Owl Punch again.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Owl Punch!


Russell had requested some craft time, specifically to use the Owl Punch. We made bookmarks for the kids who are at our bus stop. They were cut with the cricut, as were the initials. We added wings to the owls by punching 1-1/4 inch circles and punching those with the Scallop Circle Punch to get the wavy underside. Russell wanted it to look like his owl had its wings folded behind itself, and figured out how to do that.




The Owl Punch can also make bats! Punch as usual. This time, punch a 1-1/4 inch circle but when you insert it into the Scallop Circle Punch, concentrate on aligning the circle to produce the bat underwing instead of the round scallops (look at the pieces you punched for the owl wings-- the opposite side of what you used is pointed like bat wings). Russell liked these so much he decorated his Reading Log with them, and has requested we make these as the toppers for this year's Halloween pencils (look at OCt 2009 for a photo of those).

Yea it's Fall!

Swap time! I have to apologize though-- Petra did participate and I loved her card. So much so that it is on the way to my Dad for his birthday, and someone will have to send me a picture of it to put on the blog!



This first card is by Tracy. I love the fall colors and how she blended colors on the leaf. Beautiful.


Aww, isn't he cute? Nancy made him with the cricut-- inside he asks "Ruff Day?" That has also already gone in the mail to a friend!




Heidi was nice enough to give me TWO of her cricut pandas! I HAVE to find some time to use my cricut.....



This is SU!'s new Owl Punch and I love it! Too easy and too cute. The tree and envie are stamped with Season of Friendship.

Back to School Chocolate

My favorite kind! Both the brand, and the words "Back to School"! :)
Yes, I know, my kids don't think I am funny either. Molly's Open House was last night and tonight we have Russell's. I am not sure why, but I always start the year by giving the teachers chocolate! I am not usually organized enough to have it for Open House Night, but this chocolate was calling my name-- needed to get it out of the house QUICKLY. There are 2-- one for his new teacher, and one for last year's teacher who we will miss immensely.

All I did was my favorite chocolate wrapper technique-- I cut Rose Red CS to 7 1/2 X 5, and cut the designer paper (retired Raspberry Tart) slightly smaller. The ribbon is Purely Pomegranate satin ribbob, and that about finished the roll. Darn, I loved that ribbon. Whoops, time to go, later!

Upsy Daisy

This is also a CASE, this time pretty much an exact one! I was inspired by kirstysb's pretty red daisies, but also wanted to use the new Daffodil Delight yellow SU! introduced. Perfect summer cards!

Elements of Style

I was tickled pink to get this stamp set-- vintage is a style I don't often use. I had such a time with this and no, I do not mean a good time. I had various beautiful creations from SCS as guides and couldn't make any of mine look that wonderful. Finally, I tried CASE-ing one done by Susie Nelson (search for susie nelson on SCS) and it worked! I really like this. I used Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla. The bird is Cherry Cobbler stamped on Crumb Cake (or can I just call it Kraft?).

Happy New Baby!

Neighbors welcomed a baby boy on Wednesday. Another neighbor organized some meals to give them a break. It wasn't until I was baking a cake to go with the meal I was taking them Saturday that I realized I hadn't made a card yet! Off to SCS for some inspiration (which came from addicted2crafting). I did several changes to her card, but the scalloped square animals from Wild About You and scalloped edge top layer are straight cases. Changes I did make: matting the scallop squares, different color for the giraffe, a polka dot background, bow instead of mounting the squares on the ribbon, and not making it a one-layer card.

More Fifth Avenue Floral

Why did it take me so long to use this set? I love it! I wanted the flowers to have the same color variations as if I had colored them with the Reinker Spread technique-- but of course, as I was coloring these at Tae Kwan Do, that would have been a bit messy! So the Wonderful Watercolor Crayons came back out and I colored and shaded and dabbed and redid......I'm pretty happy with all of these. Then, once home, I painted Crystal Effects on the roses for a little more "oomph." What do you think?



This last one is on the way to my sister Debbie, who fell down the stairs on the first day of their family vacation and broke her foot! And, sad stamper that I am, I didn't have any cards ready to send. I'll get back downstairs tonight (I"ll need to craft -- or drink--after a late afternoon shopping trip with my 13 yr old) and remedy that. I love Pixie Pink and Basic Black together.

Fifth Avenue Floral

OK, you all know my stampin' mojo went south on me and sometimes it seemed it would never be back! Russell started Tae Kwon Do (did I spell that correctly?) this week, which brought back memories of when both kids did karate. I think I stamped most of the time they did karate, I always had a project with me (and no doubt bored all around me as I stamped and chatted away!). Piano lessons. Gymnastics. Everywhere. So this week, I packed a box of supplies, a stamp set that has gotten very little love from me, and off we went. I needed 3 birthday cards for Byron's mom, sister, and sister-in-law (yep, within 2 days of each other). Watercolor crayons are great for this kind of on-the-go coloring. I'm hooked again! Since I made these on Thursday, I have also done birthday cards, thinking of you cards, and a (if I do say so myself) adorable baby card. Stay tuned, I will post them soon!

Finally back!

Yes, it has been a while. Since February to be precise! Life took a hard left and there just was not time to keep playing on Blogger. Of course, right now I am supposed to be doing homework, but we won't go there. I did stamp in the long months since February, but it was always in a super-hurry, get-this-done-and-in-an-envelope way.

I fell in love with the lighthouse stamp thanks to the influence of my friend Kelley (who I hope is recuperating well from a bad fall) who is always on the lookout for lighthouses-- her hubby is a retired USCG officer. I CASED these cards I do apologize, I did them so long ago that I have forgotten where I stashed the creator's names. I will do better from now on!

With Sympathy.......

Sorry for the long absence, once again I am snowed under with work (pardon the pun! and NO! I do NOT want any more snow this winter! Go away, snow!). Here is another card from our swap. Heidi made these STEP sympathy cards at my request, as I knew of 2 situations for which I would be needing these. Unfortunately, this month I had three friends lose members of their families. There is little enough one can do for someone suffering a loss, but a beautiful card certainly lets that person know they are in your thoughts and prayers. Heidi CASED this from SCS. The steps "unfold" and it can stand alone. The shine is from the glossy paper, and the set is Asian Artistry. CASE or not, she did a lovely job!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I never got around to making more Valentine's-- Heidi to the rescue! She sent me this pic of ones she made and was nice enough to hand me one, too. Thanks Heidi!

So glad for inspiration!

You have no idea how many times I have wished for some free time since going back to work. Ironic, then, that once we did have some, thanks to our epic snow, I couldn't get anything going creatively!! I'm in a monthly swap with 4 other stampers, which keeps me on my toes (I'll be sharing their designs later). I stamped and fiddled and stamped and rearranged and finally gave up. Molly loves it when this happens, by the way, because she gets everything I stamped and didn't like. In desperation I surfed my favorite inspiration site and soon my brain was spinning from the never-ending talent displayed there.



This card is an almost-exact CASE of one by kharmagirl, whose designs I have copied before. CASE, by the way, means Copy-And-Share-Everything. When someone posts a design on a stamping site, he or she is giving permission to copy the design, but it is always a good idea to give credit, too. Thoughts and Prayers has been sitting in my stash-- this is the first time I have pulled it out (but won't be the last). I used Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive markers to color the image. It just didn't look right until I followed Judi's lead and paper-pierced the edges, too. Judi's card used some HodgePodge Hardware and the sentiment was stamped in Eggplant on Rose Red-- I didn't have 15 pieces of hardware that were the same, so I just stamped the sentiment on the main image. The sentiments are from Elegant Cheer-- I use that one so often you probably already recognized it-- and I did 5 each of Birthday Wishes, Many Thanks, and For my friend.




Of course there had to be something stamped on the inside! This is something I picked up from Gretchen Barron and it is very rare now that I do not stamp something on the inside panel. I think it just adds that little extra touch!


And after adding an extra touch to the inside, could I let the card be put in a PLAIN envelope? What do YOU think?

Oh thank heavens....

It's Friday! You have NO idea how much I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning, and maybe seeing some friends Saturday. I am exhausted. It has been a draining week, with exams and some other crisis going on at school. I THINK everything is settled, but I still have 20 exams to grade (and then all the grades to enter on Monday). Can you believe I am actually hoping we do NOT have a snow day Monday? I have too much to do!

Back when Heidi, Nancy, Tracy, and I got together, I worked on (and have already sent) Valentines. Here's this year's card! Happy early Valentine's Day!

My card

I can't take credit for this, although I would love to-- I completely cased it! The only problem is, I am not sure from whom (if any of you out there recognize this, please let me know!). I think it was Amy Celona or Andrea Wolford, but that is just a vague memory. This card was the reason I bought all that Afternoon Tea paper, but this is the first time I have made it. I do love it, but I will pass on to you that having watercolor paper is a must so that the color doesn't get muddy. The poppies were cut out and popped with a dimensional. I love doing that!

Heidi's cards

These were supposed to be posted Thursday, using the photos she sent me via email, but for some reason I couldn't "pull" the photos into blogger. Finally this morning I just photographed the cards myself! Heidi used an adorable Cricut cartridge to make silhouette cards. I am so in love with the little girl holding the hearts, with the dog tugging at one? helping her carry it? I haven't quite decided. Also love the color scheme. Kudos, Heidi!

Still smiling!

Yep, I am still smiling from stamping cards with friends yesterday. And, um, a wee bit of my good cheer comes from the fact that #1 ranked Texas LOST last night to KC State! That should mean my beloved Cats (#2 last week) MAY get the #1 ranking, IF they do not lose (so far we are 18-0) this week......here's hoping, but truly, the only ranking that matters is the one at the end of the NCAA tournament......

Here is Nancy's card! Look at the detail in the wreath. I thought the shiny stuff was small crystals but it is glitter. Very elegant!

Stamping as therapy....

Truly, stamping is my therapy. I have TONS of stuff to do before heading into school tomorrow, but I am so glad I got to spend some time with some stamping friends today and get all inky. A lot cheaper than therapy, yes? And you actually have something to hold in your hands afterwards! We organized a quick swap-- we each made 12 cards (all the same design), 4 with a birthday sentiment, 4 that say Get Well Soon or Thinking of you, and 4 Thank You's. The ladies said I could share their cards with you on the blog, so we'll start with our hostess.......

Tracy's card! Bright and sunny. Look closely-- she sewed that layer onto the card (you can always get a close-up view by clicking on the photo to enlarge it). This is just the card to cheer someone up, don't you think?

more quick birthday cards

I hope your week is going well! I'm finally out from under that ton of paper and starting to come up with Mid-Terms. In some ways a chore, but I am laughing at myself at how some quickly old teaching tricks are coming back to me (after all, I last taught in 1996!) and at how much homework *I* am having to do to keep up with the higher level kids ( IB 1 and 2 classes). In some ways that is a pain, it others it does give me a fair amount of freedom. For example, DC just enacted a 5 cent charge on plastic grocery bags (environmental reasons). Since in IB2 we were reading about smaller merchants versus giants (Walmart vs Mom and Pop stores) and how "le cabas" (reusable tote bag) came about, I pulled a comparison of plastic bags versus paper bags off of Le Monde.FR (lots of good green vocab, but if YOU know what Eutriphication is-- yes that is in English-- you are one up on me!) and assigned that for reading. Tomorrow we'll talk about the DC law, the article, and then (gasp!) they will have to write a short essay in class, using lots of good debate phrases also pulled off the internet-- a lovely UK site that is devoted to getting students through A- and O- French (I think that is our AP or Honors classes). I must say the internet is a godsend right now!



Ok on to my very quick cards! These are fold-out cards-- the cupcake swings open to reveal "Happy Birthday!". One for a boy(Only Orange candle and mat), one for a girl (Pixie Pink candle and mat), Tempting Turquoise for both, retired SU DSP, and OF COURSE there had to be glitter!

Girlie Money Holder

Russell was invited to 2 birthday parties this weekend. As I am up to my ears in paperwork right now, I knew I'd have to do something quick for each of them. Fortunately, my WONDERFUL hubby gave me an electronic cutting system for Christmas, so I played with it and quickly came up with 2 projects (I'll post the other later in the week).

Maddie's birthday party was Saturday. Her mom told me she was saving for an iPod, so that made the gift selection easy-- money! I quickly measured a piece of retired SU Designer paper to wrap around my bill, and for a bib inside to hold the money in place. Maddie does not like pink, so I thought this soft Bashful Blue with tiny flowers was just the ticket. If you can't see the small flowers, just click on the picture itself and it should enlarge. The lace edge was punched with the Lace Edge punch (makes sense, yes?). "Maddie" I cut with Plantin Schoolbook.



On the back, Plantin again for the grass, but various SU punches for the flowers and circle centers. Quick and easy!






And most important-- the inside! I love that the double-sided paper saves me from having to do much with the inside. Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Happy First Day of 2010!

Here are the final designs of New Year's cards we sent out this year. All except one used designer paper from that Vintage Victorian pack I picked up at a going out of business sale and gold, Mellow Moss, and Purely Pomegranate paper. The lone exception matched Riding Hood Red paper and ribbon (the one with the bow). Only one had the gold dove because it just didn't look right!

Je vous souhaite "Bonne Année et bonne santé". Que tous vos rêves se réalisent !

I wish for you all a wonderful year and good health. May all your dreams come true!

(I'm doing lesson plans today, had to warm up the brain for French again!)