crafting this and that

Unfortunately I'm not so organized to have made this year's Mother's Day cards yet. At this rate, that's probably not going to happen. These are from last year when I was on my coloring Ketto phase. It's not particularly "mother"-ish but after I colored them, I realized Mother's Day was coming up, why not make cards out of these. Hmm, maybe I needed to color some ground for the girls to stand on. Now they're looking like they're leaning to the side. The dangly hearts also looked better in my head than they did on the card, but it was too humbug to remove. After seeing this card again, I'm thinking I need to follow some card sketches. But there's something just so easy about sticking the main image on there with a scalloped border, then a ribbon slider tag on the bottom. Well, hope everyone is having a good weekend. I'm going to try to catch the last episode of Lost online then go to sleep! Or maybe just go to sleep. My kids usu...

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!