crafting this and that

Happy Furlough Friday!  Actually, it's not a "happy" time when your kids don't get to go to school cause the state doesn't have enough money.  My daughter had a 3 day school week this week.  There is something really wrong with that.  Back to my post--here is a picture of my son's graduating preschool class as represented by TGF stamps.  Stuck a picture of my daughter in there too.  Can you guess which one she is?  So, obviously I don't have a lot of boy TGF stamps.  The only other one I have is Edward, and really he shouldn't be allowed to go to preschool.  I made these to tie onto a little goody bag for each of the kids as the school year is coming to an end and they will all be going to kindergarten soon.  I stamped their names using Simple Alphabet from PTI but blurred it in the photo to protect the innocent.  This is the back side of the boys' tags.  I felt I had to cover up the back cause of the pen showing through....

I made this some time ago for a 1st birthday.  Stamp set is Once Upon a Time from Lizzie Anne Designs.  I've used this set a lot for all the little girls who celebrate their birthdays especially for my daughter's friends. This is gonna be a short post today.  Be back with more later.  Thanks for reading!

I made all of these covered notepads for the rest of the staff (teaching assistants/former teachers) at my son's preschool.  I also made some for friends and family as part of their Xmas gift (not pictured).  I can't remember but I must have made about 30-something of these.  I started early. Then I wrapped each in cellophane and tied with a ribbon and a little tag that I stamped and punched out.  It was a long process. This is a Hello Kitty set that I also made last Xmas.  I embossed each note card with Swiss Dots and used a Hello Kitty embosslit.  I really liked how this set came out.  Last Xmas pretty much everyone got some kind of stationary/notepad set.  The year before that I made sterling silver/beaded cell phone chains.  This year I have a theme too but I have to keep it a secret.  Hopefully, I'll finish in time.  That's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Well, I'm watching Glee so I figure I can multitask and post at the same time... I made this card maybe about a year ago. I was playing around with the "Beyond Basic Borders" set from PTI. Took a while to get the entire border strip inked up nicely, it helped to cover most of it with the Ketto from Stamping Bella. The hearts are also from the Ketto line. I had to get the sentiment stamp exchanged, the original one had a little dot on the "thank" portion, but PTI was good about sending a replacement right away once I emailed customer service. I think this was also around the time I started trying colored pencils and baby oil. Still can't really color too nicely...or realistically, I basically just outline the edges or color everything in, then blend. All that I've been reading about imagining the light source is starting to confuse me, maybe I have to take an art class...someday. But at least the Kettos don't have too many parts to color (still so h...

Thought I'd take a break from posting all the teacher gifts and stationary sets. I do have some more of those to share. But today I wanted to post cute baby cards. The one above uses the Oh Baby stamp set from The Greeting Farm. The layout was inspired by a card on Papertrey Ink (PTI) but I can't seem to find it on their blog anymore. In any case, there were 3 floral images on the front and I just thought that was so nice and clean looking. I had the embossed vellum paper (K & Co. I think) for many years (6 years maybe?) and finally used it. I was a bit of a paper hoarder but I am so much better now. I even let my kids use my paper scraps so they can make their own card/craft creations. Allows me to buy more paper faster! "Happiness" is a rub on from a Stampin' Up set. This next card uses the same stamp set. It's a basic shaker card--lots of tutorials out there on how to make one. Splitcoast Stampers has one here . The background paper and car...

I made these little desk/stationary sets for my kids' main teachers last Xmas. Yes, more cellophane wrapped gifts! Included in the set was the little desk caddy. The template is from PTI of course ( Lauren Meader's My Timeless Templates ). You can see in the photo that there are no printed cut or score lines. Looks clean and neat. I also left out the half circle notch that was supposed to be cut out in the front. Stamp in front is Teacher Anya from The Greeting Farm (another favorite of mine). There was also a notepad using matching cardstock and monogrammed with the teacher's first initial. The apple is from the same PTI stamp set mentioned below. A calendar on an easel card was also included. And lastly, a set of note cards wrapped in matching ribbon (from PTI). I am working on more gifts for teachers since the last day of school is coming fast. Hope to share those with you soon. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I made these stationary sets for my daughter's Nihongo teachers for Xmas last year. It uses the same template as the one mentioned below from PTI. I also used their Teacher's Apple stamp set and the Just Rite Stampers small letter set to write out the teachers' names. This just shows some of the cards/envelopes I stamped last year for my kids' teachers. Sorry, this picture might be a little blurry. I also made these Hello Kitty notepads for the Nihongo teachers. I used some Japanese washi paper that I had for many many years. The Hello Kittys are die cut using Sizzix sizzlits. I bought my daughter the Hello Kitty sidekick but I think I may use it more than she does.

Say that 3 times fast! This was my first attempt at a chipboard album...it basically looks like the sample photo that came with the album. Cutting and sanding the paper was a little painful, maybe that's why I'm procrastinating on the "FAMILY" board book. But the Basic Grey file set makes the holes and curvy parts a little easier to smooth down. The patterned paper and ribbon is from the Basic Grey Oh Baby! Girl collection pack. (Yes, my products are old, I'm pretty cheap and tend to buy them on sale when they're like getting ready to discontinue them or something). But I've just found a matching cardstock pack from Embellish It! (on sale - and even cheaper because it's an old collection!) plus I ordered even more cardstock for some other Basic Grey collections that I have. (Argh! More spending!) It's the first time that I'm ordering from Embellish It, but I believe the owner taught the class at the Creating Keepsakes Convention where we made...

Hi, notice the new banner? Took me a little while on photoshop to change the color and add the text. The image is from www.thecutestblogontheblock.com . I made this desk set as an xmas gift for my husband's boss' wife. Why? Because it's supposedly against the rules to give gifts to your higher ups so we decided to just give his wife a gift. I found the template for the desktop calendar box here . I bought the calendars from Aunty Lianne at Cute Stuff. I always like to shop for fun and cute stamps at her store especially when I can go there without my kids. The template for the stationary set is from Papertrey Ink--one of Lauren Meader's templates before she went out on her own. I love Papertrey Ink stamps and cardstock. Usually when I use printable templates I print them out on scratch paper and then measure where all the score and cut lines should be and transfer that onto the cardstock or paper I'm going to use cause I don't like it when all the printe...

Hey, I was wondering how to get the photo to post under stuff I already typed and somehow it did it! Not sure what I did and if I can do it again. Hmmm, if I post something everyday, I'm probably going to run out of things to share by the end of the month! Hopefully nobody minds looking at all my old stuff. So Eva, I'm counting on you to carry the blog! Anyhow, here's the birth announcement I made for Natalie. I used "Short and Sweet" from Stampin Up for the sentiment (thanks to Eva for the stamp set that started me on the road to more stamps!) and "Priceless" (one of the first stamp sets I ordered because Eva invited a Stampin Up demonstrator to her house and made me come over! :-)). The flowers were punched and some Stickles were added for the centers. On the inside, I just included the newborn photo from the hospital and the birth stats typed out on vellum and mass printed.

What??!! Me? An enabler? I don't know what Cheryl's talking about. I merely make suggestions when I see something cute and if it's a good deal. I've been ordering stuff from www.peachycheap.com lately. Today's deal is really cute but I don't think it's the best deal out there. Too much shipping. And I just discovered that there is another blog out there that has almost the same name as ours! It's Crafty This and That. Hope people don't get confused between the two. One more thing before we get on to the card. I wanted to mention that I actually won something. A Sizzix Bigz Spiral/Garland die from Sunghee over at www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/ . She made a really cute flower with the die, something I probably would not think about doing. I think she makes some cute stuff especially her mini albums which I am going to try to make one of these days. Thanks, Sunghee!! I wasn't sure if I was gonna post this cause I didn't know ...

This is a thank you card I made for my daughter's first birthday party. I got the idea from a sample at Taj Clubhouse (the owner was also very helpful). The bunny and hands were stenciled then cut out. The face was then lined with markers...not sure what else would work better to color the face. These are the favors. I tried to match the background patterned papers to the thank you cards (there was a 2nd version of the thank you card in a slightly different color but I must have mailed all of those out before taking a picture). The animals were embossed from a taj stencil using the bunny's body and different heads. The round tag was stamped with the event and date, then die cut (thanks, Eva, for making all those).

This is a little gift basket I made last year for one of my former professors who was moving to Arizona. I filled it with lots of goodies from Lin's Market. Made the box myself from 2 sheets of 12x12 cardstock. Here's the finished product all nicely wrapped again in cellophane. The card is made from a taj stencil. Took me a while to emboss the image and the letters in the scallop circle since I don't have all the right tools like a lightbox. Just used a large tupperware container and sat by the window. But the taj images are so cute it was worth the work! Here's a closeup of the cute bear!

This is a diaper cake I made way back in 2007. I bought almost everything I used including the cute polka dot ribbon from Walmart. I love that store! I also always have a huge roll of cellophane cause I love to wrap up gifts like this. This is a close up of the diaper card I made too. I got the template from a site that I can no longer remember. But I did have to do a lot of trial and error cutting to get it just right.

Finally, my first post!! Took me several minutes to think of a name that wasn't already taken. Hopefully, I will get the hang of this blogging thing soon and post some pictures of past and present crafts I've created.