We interupt the regularly scheduled program.....for {Teacher Gifts}!

We made it!! YAAAAYYYY!!!! My boy's last day of school was yesterday and it was SO nice to not only complete the school year, but also to turn OFF my 5:40 AM alarm clock!!!! I cannot express how happy that makes me! :>

Yes, I know I promised to return with {Part Two}of the doll house with pictures of its completion and I'm sorry I haven't gotten that up yet. I was trapped in the kaleidoscope of the zany & zippy, Crazyland that is the last week of school! So, please pardon the interruption to the regularly scheduled program as I have some teachers, aides, and principal gifts to share! :>

We had two teachers, two aides, and one principal that we brought end of the year thanks and goodies too.  While these were the people who we wrote, created and packaged bits for, we do know that it takes many more people to make a successful school year for our children and we are grateful to all that contributed!!

Initially, we were thinking Gerber Daisies, as I had the tag's wording in mind.  But, when I went looking, I found these fabulous and fun plants!  They are Celosias and the flower is spiky, feathery, vibrant, and look like little colorful Christmas trees, up close.  They could not be more perfect!  You can read more about Celosias here and here.  I have uploaded two close-up shots of the flowers themselves on Flickr here and here.

I had fun playing around with my fonts when coming up with these simple, but very appropriate tags for each plant.  I made them in MS Word, matted them on brightly colored cardstock, used different colored eyelets, and layered on another bright color with a spiral paper clip.  (Click on the pics to enlarge them and make them easier to read!)

The Celosias were four inch plants in the standard green plastic pot....perfect for planting, not so great for gift giving.  So, wee girl and I made a quick trip to Jo-Ann's and bought some dark green burlap.  We cut it into squares and Princess helped hold the burlap folded up around the pot, while I tied on some twine from the hardware store that I had.  Tie on the tag and they are a sweet little gift!

Teachers definitely put in so much time and effort and these two teachers, in particular, we all appreciate so much.  We wanted to give them a little something extra to show that.  So, I wrapped up four cards (1, 2, 3, 4) and envelopes and tied them up in wide pink grosgrain ribbon for simple, yet sweet gift giving. 

As we were giving out our end of the year gifts, a teacher surprised me with an extremely thoughtful gift.  She took pictures of our son through his school day, with his friends, classmates, different aides & teachers, in the classroom, at lunch, and recess.  She said that she knew that I scrapbook and wanted to give me pictures to scrap.  How thoughtful is that?!?!?!!

We have worked with this teacher closely for the last two years and I do not have words to express how wonderful she has been.  I am sure that when any of us look back, twenty years from now, we will remember her very well and still be grateful for her.

This small set (1, 2, 3, 4) of cards were wrapped up in a beautiful bright green wide sheer ribbon and tied off in a bow.  These were going to his classroom teacher who is full of smiles, enthusiasm, and a passion for teaching!  Our boy says that she was funny, great at teaching math, super nice, and that he enjoyed listening to her read stories to the class.  We so enjoyed her being our son's teacher this year and she will be missed!

One aide in particular, had a special connection with our son.  He enjoyed her so much, thought she was funny, and absolutely idolized her thirteen year old son....so much so, that her son was kind enough to come spend time after and before school a couple times a week with my boy this spring to talk about Star Wars, guitars, and Lego's.  How cool is that?! 

Princess and this aide shared something in common......they both enjoy their accessories!  In the last weeks of school, Princess often noticed my boy's very stylish aide wearing statement rings.  So, when we were thinking about end of the year gifts, Princess was the one to come up with the idea of giving this aide a statement ring.......and so we did!  I don't think the picture does it justice.  Its really fun and funky!

They have worked together for the last two years and in that time they talked, laughed, learned and taught, ran together (she runs half marathons....good thing 'cause my kidlet is fast and doesn't stop moving!! :>), played, and shared stories every day at school.  We will miss her next year!

Sending a BIG shout out to ALL the teachers out there (including the ones in my family!).......THANK YOU!

Thanks for visiting, I love it when you do! Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!!

Happy Birthday PTI {Card Two}

Holey Camole Macarole! Leave it to PTI's Nichole to help me along with a FIRST! Two posts in one night....that is a first for me! :> So, there's one more card below for this same challenge. And again, I had the same plan of attack........attack??!!.....more like fun loving, child-like playtime!

Like the previous post, I colored this fun and whimsical image from Becky Oehlers with simple Sharpies and my lovely and favorite Spica glitter pens. Like I said, it felt like that free loving and fun of a child's arts & crafts time and for that, after coloring, I found myself smiling.

And again, another flat card to add to the easy mailing, uber reasonable postage stash! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink; White - Georgia Pacific
Image: Becky Oehlers for Papertrey Ink
Pens: Sharpies; Spica glitter pens - Copic

Happy Birthday {Papertrey Ink}!

Papertrey Ink is celebrating their third birthday and we get the presents!! How cool is that?! Nichole Heady introduced the designers for PTI for 2010 and each of them designed an image for us to download.....Free! And it gets even better......you can link up a card (or seven!) with the birthday images the designers have given us and be entered for a drawing for a hot giveaway of seven PTI stamp sets! Its like a papercrafters stamping heaven with inspiration and oodles of goodies every day...definitely worth checking out (IF you are not already addicted, like so many of us are and ran there when the festivities started yesterday!).

I used the image from Beth Silaika of Freckled and Fun for a quick CAS birthday card. A little color from my trusty Sharpies, lots of sparkle from my favorite Spica glitter pens (the entire WISH is glitterfied....you may have to click on the photo to see the sparkle), and whole lotta Raspberry Fizz love make up this card. My favorite part about this card is that it is flat! Its nice to have some cards that easily go in the mail without tag board to pad it, packing tape to keep any bling from punching through, OR any increase in postage! I love my ribbon, bows, and multi dimensional bling, but I also really love having options. :>

Supplies:
Image: Beth Silaika for Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz & Plum Pudding - Papertrey Ink; White - Georgia Pacific
DP: Bitty Dot Basics - Papertrey Ink
Pens: Sharpies; Spica glitter pens - Copic

Oh Christmas Tree

December sure is zipping on by, isn't it? So fast, that I think it has done a December disappearing act! My jaw hit the floor (THUD) this morning when I realized that it is the 20th already!!! I've been sick for a week, along with Hubby and our Princess. Our Monkeyman is the only one to have escaped this ....... tap, tap, tap ..... knock, knock, knock .... ... Pound, Pound, Pound ...... that would be me, being a wee bit superstitious and um, knocking on wood! I'm hoping we're all healthy for Christmas at the end of this week. The end of this week ????!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHH !!!!!!!!! (Yes, that would be me running .... screaming .... waving my hands in the air!!) AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a little card talk will calm me down!! As soon as I saw Making Handmade Cards button eKits, I knew I wanted to use them to make a Christmas tree card with them! Tie in a little embroidery thread and a PTI bow and I was a happy gal!

Now, I'm usually a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas colors and I have a hard time deviating from the traditional red & green. I can add in some blues and metallics, But pink?! Well, my oh my, I took that leap across the canyon from the traditionally colored Christmas forest to the one colored a la Candyland...... and I liked it! A little fun with a Funky Christmas and button eKits, some ribbon corners, and more embroidery floss and a pink Chrismtas card sat in front of me .... it even makes me smile.:>

If you are curious about eKits, Sign up for the Making Handmade Cards free newsletter and get a free eKit to play with!

Back to life, back to reality (OH! that is sooo going to be stuck in my head all day now !).........

My inlaws arrive on Wednesday and my 'To-Do' lists are just a wee bit long. Those lists encompass all of this week's to-dos as well as most of last week's as well. Last week was my Monkeyman's last week of school this year and I was delighted to hear him sing "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Deck the Halls" in his Winter Concert. I got inky with some of Tim's tags and some SU Christmas tags for his teachers. But, mostly, in between taking care of my family, I curled up with a book, a blanket, hot tea, and read with the lights of our beautiful Christmas tree aglow, reminding me of my favorite time of year.

I hope you are enjoying this season! What holiday memories are you creating this year? If you don't celebrate at this time, what December delights are making you smile?

No Nesties? No problem!

Are you full into the swing of the Christmas season? We're getting there! And the weather seems to be cooperating with the idea of winter approaching. When I was a kidlet, I had the great fortune to enjoy a beautiful white Christmas as I lived in three different states with snow (on both coasts). Seeing a sunny California day when I am dreaming of a winter wonderland, sleigh bells ringing, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire......whoops.....apparently, as usual, songs are singing away in my head. But, I digress (I'm good at that!), we have been awaking to cold mornings and lots of fog, sealing us in for cozy days.

I'll bet you're wondering why I don't need Nesties, huh?! Okay, okay, I'll move along now!! :> I know my head is swirling with Christmas time fun, but I hope you'll indulge me with a little flower fun....yes??

Truth be told, I would LOVE some Nesties, but since I have none, I had to pull out some creativity and figure out another way to create my paper flower! I wanted a large scalloped handmade flower for my card, so using Microsoft Word, I drew a series of nested circles (which I then dragged apart, so that I would be able to cut them out individually). You could also cut out circles with a circle cutter, Coluzzle, Cricut, or any die cutter you have (probably those desired Nesties!). Using a touch of temporary adhesive, I adhered those circles to the back of my paper (in this case, printable paper from the Flower Train eKit from Making Handmade Cards) and pulled out an oldie, but a goodie..................scalloped decorative scissors!!

I never use decorative scissors anymore, but my kidlets do enjoy them very much, so they are still in the house and I am mighty excited to have found a great use for them! If you cut with the same point of the scissors (say either the point of the indent of the scallop or the top round of the scallop) hitting the same point in the paper (the edge of your temporarily adhered circle), your scalloped circles will come out even. See? A Nestie like nested flower with No Nesties! :>

My scallops were small and getting lost in the patterned paper, so to make them more pronounced, I added some much loved Stickles (oh, Stickles, how I love you so!) and set them out to dry. While waiting for my Stickled scallop circles to dry, I needed to distract myself......er, um, finish the rest of my card (yes, something shiny and sparkly and WET is very hard for me not to touch!). I printed another sheet from the Flower Train e-Kit for the background paper and adhered three ribbons in three different widths. Do you remember that cream ribbon that I custom colored with my Bic Mark-It that I posted about? Well, that top narrow blue ribbon is that very ribbon that started out cream!

Wanting to keep my scalloped flower three dimensional, I only placed adhesive in the center of the scalloped circles, including to the ribbon, so that all of the edges would pop up a bit. I used a bit more of my custom colored ribbon to tie off a hot pink button, placed the whole piece onto a hot pink card base and voila, a card for any occasion!

Who likes freebies?? Making-Handmade-Cards has a free Flower Doodle eKit if you sign up for their free newsletter! :>

I hope all of you had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving if you celebrated it! We had a cozy one with just Hubby and our kidlets. Two of my three closest friends (we miss you, Jilly!!) came up, one on Friday and the other on Thursday and it was absolutely wonderful to just hang out with them and spend time together. The rockin' Auntie who found the gluten & casein free chocolate advent calendar for my kidlets (to accomodate our son's diet restrictions) gave it to them and was able to see their reactions in person and my other girlfriend, who also rocks it out as an absolutely fabulous Auntie, french braided our Princess' hair....oh so sweet! Oh yea, did I mention that I did some serious tromping when we all played MarioKart on the wii??!! Oh yes, I did!! :>:>

Hope your week has been fab and that your weekend is to be even better! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Melon Mambo - Stampin' Up!; white (for printing the eKit papers on) - Georgia Pacific

Pattern Paper: Flower Train eKit - Making-Handmade-Cards
Ribbon: cream - Offray, Hibiscus Burst twill & Raspberry Fizz grosgrain - Papertrey Ink
Other: Mark-It - Bic; button - stash; Fruit Punch - Stickles; scalloped scissors

Holey Hybrid, Batman!

First, for those that were asking, yup, yup, I did get wet at the party. I struck a deal with my son though.....he could squirt me as much as he wanted on my back if he would keep it out of my face. :> And yes, he and I both had a fantastic time at his friend's birthday party!! :>

Just a little something simple to offer up today. What is unusual, at least for me, is that this little simple something is hybrid! Actually, the fact that it is hybrid IS what makes it so simple. I was poking around my friend Dana's blog, Paper Daydream, at the end of last week and clicked on over to The DigiChick blog, where she is a member of their Hybrid Chick Creative Team, and found their Friday Freebie.....and you can't beat free, now can you? Well, actually, yes you can.....it is Cute AND free! So, I had to take advantage of it and give this hybrid thing a try.

Now, I do have some other digi stamps already from a couple of different places, but this week, I have been a little short on time and definitely short on creative energy. Hubby left really early Thursday morning for a Guys' weekend at his friend's cabin and six days later, he is returning later today! Yay!! You see, Hubby is a homebody and consequently, its quite unusual for him to be gone. May I take my hat off to those of you who have spouses who do a lot of traveling or have a spouse in the military who is deployed! One of my closest friend's husband is in the army and is quite often gone throughout the year and she amazes me! :>

Okay.....on to my super simple hybrid card! I opened the images in Microsoft Word to size them, printed them out on Georgia Pacific cardstock (per Dana's recommendation as my old printer was quite moody with the heavier stuff), detail cut a bunch of images out (I still have a few more cut out and waiting for a card, so don't be surprised if you see more from the freebie set!), and then they sat on my desk for a couple of days! I told you I was short on creative energy the last few days. ;-) When I picked them up late this morning, I found some old Stampin' Up! dp, adhered the images and the Purely Pomegranate ribbon to it and then mounted the whole thing on a 4 1/4" x 4" Purely Pomegranate card base......and the whole super simple hybrid card is complete...and in record time! I am a slow crafter, so I will definitely keep this in mind when I need a card fast!

School starts up again for my son on Thursday and we get to meet his teacher tomorrow. While I am So not looking forward to having to set an alarm at 5:40am again, I think we all are looking forward to the school routine and coming adventures. Not to mention, autumn is my favorite time of year! Crunchy leaves (albeit, they take longer to turn colors, fall, and get crunchified in California), a kidlet's birthday, Halloween, Early Thanksgiving at my Aunt's, actual Thanksgiving at home, Christmas tree selection and decoration, Christmas, and the cozy days afterwards. I love the Fall! What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Supplies:
Cardstock: Purely Pomeganate - Stampin' Up!; white - Georgia Pacific
Patterned (DP) Paper: Stampin' Up!
Images: Danielle Engebretson for the Digi Chick
Ribbon: Purely Pomegranate - Stampin' Up!