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!!

{Sweet} Thanks!

Very sweet thanks were in order for a sweet friend, for which this card was made (and I just found out that it has arrived in her mailbox....so its safe to post! :>). Now, if you haven't noticed I'm not a huge patterned paper gal. Don't get me wrong, I love it, I buy it, I hoard it, but I have trouble using it. And a card or scrapbook layout that is made entirely of patterned paper is pretty much unheard of for me! Until now!! :> I knew I wanted to use my cupcake stamp and an 8x8 patterned paper stack that I bought on sale awhile back and have never used...not one piece. Being that I was working out of my comfort zone, I needed some more Backup and this time I turned to CPS sketch 127 .

Stamping the cupcake on the front of the striped & glittered Die Cuts With A View paper and then stamping the cupcake again on the back of the polka paper, I began making my sweet cupcake. I cut both pieces out, painted the polka frosting with white pearlescent paint (watered down makes it more translucent to not obscure the paper below) for some great shimmer (unfortunately, the camera didn't pick it up...but, its there, I promise!). Actually, I painted two, as the first one I stamped with an inked up stamp and the dark ink began to show through from the paint and water. So, I stamped it a second time with just the residue left after stamping off several times.

Since I was following a sketch, you would think that it would take no time at all to cut some paper and adhere it, but I fussed with several different patterns and cardstock and to my great surprise, it was the cardstock that just was not working at all. Once I removed the cardstock (after trying half a dozen different colors!), it then came together for me.....with all patterned papers and a giant surprised grin. Some foam tape to pop the layers up, a little bit of ruffled ribbon, a {sweet} rub on and I had a thank you to send off to this sweet friend!

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkspirations (closed)
Cardstock: Stampers Select White (card base) - PTI
Patterned Paper: Nana's Nursery - Die Cuts With A View
Ribbon: Fairy Tale - Stampin' Up!
Rub Ons: K & Company, K-ology, Thinking of You
Paint: Pearlescent Paints - Yasutomo

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #13 & CPS 126

Having just about run out of Berry Sorbet, I was scrambling thinking how I could still participate in Dawn's latest Color Challenge. Then I thought to pull out my pad of Papertrey Ink's Bitty Dots. It is the only PTI patterned paper that I own and I'm oh so glad I do!

I was attempting to complete CPS's sketch 126 in time as well, but I hopped on here just moments too late. Oh well, it provided a great road map for me to create my card with and the absolute perfect excuse to pull out some of my PTI buttons (not that I need an excuse for that, right?!).

With the colors and the layout already decided for me, the whole card came together quite quickly. I think what I loved most was just how happy these colors are. I can't help but smile when I look at them!

Since this was the first time I have stamped and played with this little birdie, I was figuring out how she ticks. When I cut her out, I left the part of the body where the wing would go intact, but the white of the cardstock was glaring, so I simply inked up a sponge and lightly sponged in some red ink. I adhered her cute little polka dot wing with 1/16" foam dots to the body and again used foam dots to adhere the body to the card. I punched the circles with 1 1/8" and 1 3/8" circle punches, layered them, and adhered the tied off buttons with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. I drew in the birdies legs and feet to complete her.

A fun, happy little card was born from a little inspiration from Dawn McVey and CPS. I'm looking forward to see how one or the other, or both, inspired everyone else who played along! A great big thank you to all who stop by here and of course, I just love hearing from you! Your comments tickle me as pink as this birdie's wing!!! Have a fantastic weekend!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy - PTI

Patterned Paper: Bitty Dot - PTI

Stamps: Everyday Classics - PTI

Ink: Real Red, Regal Rose - Stampin' Up!

Other: Embroidery Floss - Making Memories; Rub Ons - Stampin' Up!; Pen - Zig; Vintage Buttons - Papertrey Ink

Another Teacher Thank You

We had another teacher to thank, Ms.Vicky, who was just simply wonderful to work with this year! She is kind, thoughtful, and really had our son's best interest at heart. I do not think I could say enough nice things about her. Just like with Ms. Connors, we really lucked out!

For Ms. Vicky, I decided to make her Lauren's Captured Card Case and fill it with.....cards! This was the first time I used this template and I was delighted to find that it is Beyond Easy!! I made this in the wee hours of the morning, one night before school was out and even with lacking sleep, it was still super easy. I filled it with this, this, this, and this card. Initially, I was going to make a cute matching set, but as a lot of you know how fast the last couple weeks of school can fly by, I ran out of time. I didn't want to short change this fabulous teacher though and still wanted to give her handmade cards, so I just pulled from some that I already made.

K&Company's Brenda Walton Mira Specialty Paper Pad has the most fabulous papers I think I've seen in a paper pad! I had sworn off paper pads/stacks/slabs since I so often forget to use them and while they can bring the price of patterned paper Way down, if I'm not using them, then its not only a waste of money, but of storage space as well. However, this pad has tickled me so much that I'm running out of the first one I bought several months ago and actually went out and bought a second one recently!! The patterned paper with the bird came from a piece in that pack. I cut it down and then to add just a little bit of interest, I used the burnished glitter technique from Spike, which I learned from my friend Dana at Paperdaydream (you should see the Gorgeous butterfly with dry embossing she put on her blog yesterday!). I burnished glitter on the birdy's eye and her branch, both with Martha Stewart glitter.


I hope everyone is having a fantastic day so far! The sun has amazingly decided to come out and play today.......it didn't shine through the overcast sky until after 5pm yesterday. Would you believe that?! On June 1st?! It was a surprise, but the kidlets and I had a really fun day yesterday and as I listen to them play with a tub full of cars and airplanes, making every sound effect possible, I'm hoping for another great one! Just wanted to wish you one as well and thank all who craft some time to for a little blog surfing, a little creativity, and a little play! I know I will! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, New Leaf - PTI
Patterned Paper: Brena Walton Mira Specialty Paper Pad - K&Co.
Glitter: Aquamarine Crystal, Brownstone - Martha Stewart
Template: Captured Card Case - PTI

Moxie Fab World Citrus Color Challenge

As I began pulling colors for the Moxie Fab color challenge, I saw just how many different directions we can go! I realize its more Moxie FAB to use current and new products, but I ended up with a couple of retired SU In Colors, River Rock (which I never liked, until now...yes, Elise, you can thump me now!) and Wild Wasabi, in combination with a current color from Papertrey Ink, Lemon Tart. There are several other combinations that could be made from current SU colors or using Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, and Ripe Avocado (or New Leaf) from PTI, and a huge number of combinations from Bazzill or any number of great companies out there with great springtime launching into summer colors!

Planning in my head what I wanted to do, I grabbed a one inch circle punch and started punching out Lemon Tart and Wild Wasabi circles. I started arranging them on the River Rock card base to match that picture in my head and no matter how hard I tried to put them in a larger circle, they kept inching back into a line......acting like the caterpillar that they looked like sitting there on my card. So, I decided, why fight it?! A caterpillar it is. Running the circles through a Xyron, made it easy to attach them to each other and the card. A little TIP: If you take a stylus and trace around the outside (and the inside, if it has any cutouts) before you remove the top liner/cover, you will not have any of those annoying little Xyron webs that used to drive me batty!

Looking for antennae options, I pulled out my Love & Happiness rub-ons that were an SU sellabration goodie a couple years ago. I'm embarrassed to admit, I had not used them yet, not a one!! Actually, I'm really horrible about remembering to use rub-ons!! Oh the horror!! I have them. I love them when I see them. I admire them on other people's projects. But, I forget to use them!! Consequently, it may be a very simple card, but I'm proud that I did indeed remember to check out my rub-on stash!!! I cut out one flower stem (in Old Olive, I believe), that I cut into two pieces and used that for that for the antennae stems and two little dots for the antennae bulbs. I then cut the same two dots from the Chocolate Chip sheet and used them for the eyes. And voila, a little rub-on personality for my caterpillar!

"Thank You so much" is a sentiment from Dawn McVey's fabulous set, Damask Designs and was stamped in Wild Wasabi. The edges were all inked with more of that great color (too bad it is no longer). After I completed inking the card, the sentiment was beginning to get lost, so I took a Spica Glitter Pen in Melon and traced over the top popping the sentiment back out and giving it just a little bling!

Time to get one kidlet down for a nap and convince the other that the sun really will eventually come out today.....it is 2:30pm on June 1st, afterall! Oh well, I took advantage of it being cooler as well as all the gardening inspiration that I'm finding on so many blogs this week by pruning and weeding out back this morning. We transplanted a graphed apple tree that will have six different kinds of apples.....once it starts producing fruit. Its a happy little guy and I love looking at him out my kitchen window. Even though its getting late, I want to at least get my herb garden going and hopefully, get back to growing some veggies. I SO do not have a green thumb, but I get points for trying, right? What are you all growing in your gardens, this summer? (Or, if you are on the south side of the equator....hi Sarah!....what do you like to plant during your growing season?)

Supplies:
Cardstock: River Rock, Wild Wasabi - SU!; Lemon Tart - PTI
Ink: Wild Wasabi Classic dye ink - SU!
Stamps: Damask Designs - PTI

Embellishments: Love & Happiness Rub-ons - SU!; Melon glitter pen - Spica by Copic

Other: 1" circle punch - EK Success

Thank You Teachers!!

School finished up the '08-'09 year on Friday. We were crazy fortunate that our son had the most Fabulous teacher this last year. Not only is she an outstanding teacher, but she was also the perfect fit for our boy! He grew and thrived in her classroom and we will certainly miss seeing her daily next school year!


Confession time! Like many of us, I am addicted to dollar departments. Every time I enter Target or Michael's, the gravitational pull toward the Dollar Spot or that lovely dollar aisle seems to be unbreakable. My daughter will ask, "Mama, where you driving?" (aka where am I pushing her in the shopping cart to?!).......um...to-the-land-of-cute-craftable-good-deals...can't stop now!!! And even worse, those fabulous one dollar craftables go into the ever growing collection at home and just wait and wait and wait and wait.....and wait to be used!!

But, this time, when I bought this adorable mini watering can, I knew exactly what I would be using it for.......a perfect little pencil holder for our perfect teacher! I wrapped a piece of Pure Poppy stitched grosgrain ribbon around the neck, adhering the whole piece with my ATG. I then made a bow, threaded two buttons with SU's hemp twine, and tied the whole thing together, knotting it in front of the top button. I adhered the bow embellishment to the Pure Poppy ribbon at the neck of the watering can with Fabri-Tac. This is a fabulous adhesive, especially for bulky tied ribbons and is a perfect item to coupon at Michael's!

When it came time to adhere the mini chalkboard, I used a new glue...well, new to me, that is...Zip Dry Paper Glue. Laying down a line of the glue onto the watering can, using the button as a centering line, I placed the chalkboard on top of the glue. It wiggled quite a bit, so I just held it tight for about five minutes and then it held and didn't budge! The most difficult part of this little project was writing with chalk on the mini chalkboard. Thankfully, I was able to erase and start over....many, many times! I finally realized that my handwriting did not need to be perfect, but rather, it was most important that it was legible and that I got all of the letters into that space!

When I made Mom's Mother's Day gift, I did not realize that I would become hooked on Lauren Meader's Timeless Templates. Yes, I should have known better!! Again diving into my tubs of delightful craftables, I came up with two little pails that I got at Target Dollar spot, two for $1. I checked out all of Lauren's templates and their measurements and discovered that the one that would fit more than one of the pails is one of the templates that I already have...yay! After trying to print "From the Desk of" and arguing with my printer that was not taking the cardstock (it took it the last time, so I think it has multiple personalities!), I printed the templates out on regular printer paper and just layered it on top of the cardstock to cut and score. And do you know what?! I like making the template better that way!! I didn't think I would, but I do and have the added bonus that the score lines are not printed on my project, distracting the eye!


What was even more delightful than these cute little craftables was that this became a major use my stash project! The patterned paper came out of an old Die Cuts With A View Fall stack and was inked with some Distress Ink. I made a ribbon flower by twisting and folding one piece of ribbon at each petal (kind of like how a cause ribbon is folded - pink for Breast Cancer, red for Aids or Heart Disease, etc.) and adhering each layer of ribbon with Fabri-Tac. The layered buttons were tied off with more hemp twine and then instead of tying them on to the flower, which would have changed its shape, I used more Fabri-Tac to adhere the buttons to the top of the flower.

I filled the mini pails with colorful paper clips & binder clips that were in my office supplies. And into the mini watering can went our perfect teacher's favorite brand of pencils, Ticonderoga. It took forty-eight pencils, I think. I wanted a little extra something that she could use at home as I suspected she would keep the other items in the classroom, so I included seed packets for zucchini, french leeks, and carrots for her garden. I thought they still tied in with the gift because of the cute watering can!


Lastly, I would really like to thank all the wonderful teachers that teach our children, guide them through their learning adventures, and help them thrive! I would like to thank all the parents who get involved in their kidlets' education. And I also want to thank everyone who supports the schools in their communities, whether or not you have kidlets attending. Without such strong community support in our town, my son and his classmates would not have experienced music class, art class, square dancing, spirit days, movie nights, star gazing night, and all the other wonderfully enriching activities that are paid for and put on by the PTO. Our community support is also what provides lots of our technical equipment, field trips, and other educational materials that would not be possible for our little school to have. So, thank you again to all who support their community schools and help provide the education and enrichment that is necessary for all of our kidlets to thrive and hopefully return that generosity for the next generation!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy - PTI
Ink: Weathered Wood - Distress Ink by Ranger
Patterned Paper: Fall Stack - DCWV
Ribbon: Pure Poppy Stitched 5/8" Grosgrain - PTI; Natural Hemp Twine - SU!
Buttons: Stash....if I had to guess, I would guess either SEI and/or Autumn Leaves
Other: Mini Chalkboard - Darice

Background Inking

When I saw this video tutorial on Tami's blog, Dapple Designs, on making distress backgrounds lighter and brighter for spring, I knew I would try it. Eventually. Thankfully, 'eventually' finally became 'now' over the last two days. I was a little short on time, but it was really easy to break this up by making the backgrounds on Saturday and putting it to work on a card on Sunday.

Using all four SU classic ink yellows, I swished and swirled my paper into the ink I pressed on to my craft mat. Just a side note here: I've had my craft mat for about a year now and this is only the second time I've brought it out! Smack me on the head now please! What have I been thinking....or not thinking, to be more precise! This is one fabulous simple little necessity to have in your crafting tool bag! And flashing back to the card..... It took several passes. I also forgot about using any water. The excitement to ink up the cardstock took over, I think. In the end though, I really like how it turned out. And without the water, it gives the paper a texture that is almost like suede. I really recommend checking out Tami's blog and seeing what great inspiration she has there!

Breaking out SU's Best Blossoms again, I stamped the flower in three colors and the stamp with the leaves on the stem several times and then cut them out. I adhered the two flowers on the outside with 1/16" foam tape and the one in the middle with 1/8" foam tape. The bottom layer of the ribbon is satin ribbon, with the wrong or back side facing up and on top of that is the pink twill. I adhered them to each other and to the card with my trusty ATG.

So much inky fun was to be had that I inked up two more backgrounds, one with purples and one with blues, that I hope to use in the near future!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, New Leaf - PTI
Stamps: Best Blossoms - SU; Thank You - Rubber Soul
Ink: Summer Sun, YoYo Yellow, So Saffron, Barely Banana, Positively Pink (retired), Cameo Coral, Regal Rose, Garden Green - SU; Vintage Sepia - Versafine
Ribbon: Hibiscus Pink twill, New Leaf Satin - PTI

MTTC 01 & CPS 113 & IAP1

Combining three challenges into one card is kind of fun! Now I know why some people create their own challenge of seeing how many challenges they can combine into one project. I always think that I cannot do that, but evidently, I'm wrong!

I combined Lauren Meader's first color challenge with Card Positioning Systems weekly sketch challenge with a challenge at the Stamp Shack for Ink-A-Polooza this week.

Would you believe that I do not own a single sheet of darker gray cardstock?! Oh the horror!!! But, I did dig out a piece of corrugated gray........not sure what to call it....thicker than cardstock and thinner than cardboard and a squishier consistency than tag board. I bought a multi-color pack of the stuff back in 2000 when I started scrapbooking. Maybe I ought to find a 'use your stash' challenge since its nine years old!!

Colorful simplicity was the name of the game here. The whole card is created simply with layers of cardstock, the stamped image popped up on 1/8" foam squares, and a little tiny bling with some Spica glitter pens. First I traced the word 'thanks' with silver. Then I went back over it with red. I discovered a little trick when I did this. When I decided to use the red over the silver, I dotted the red pen with little tiny dots right next to each other. It then looks like a line drawn, but the sparkle effect is amazing!! Whatever sparkle you think you are getting with your Spica glitter pens, try dotting with them and you'll be amazed at just how much more sparkle there is. I am without much sun right now as we are expecting rain (please, please, please rain! its been Very dry here this season), so I don't think I'm capturing the difference here. That might be something I'll have to do though in the near future. :> In the meantime, if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the sparkle a lot better!


Supplies:
Cardstock: Lemon Tart, Spring Rain, Pure Poppy - PTI; corrugated gray - Stash
Ink: Charcoal Chalk ink - Colorbox
Stamp: Lexicon of Love - SU
Other: Red & Silver Spica Glitter Pens - Copic