Wishing You Comfort

It has been a long weekend full of laughter, memories, and more tears than I can count. I have been surrouded by family, friends, and people I love. I am going to keep this post short and sweet, as I am utterly exhausted. I made this a few days ago, almost therapeudically. I have found more peace as the days go on, knowing that my grandma is home. But the hole in my heart of knowing that I won't hug her again on this earth still hurts.

I am looking forward to a good sleep tonight. And a good rest tomorrow before another service on Tuesday morning.

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI:Rosie Posie, Verve: New Mercies
Paper- Orange Zest, Lemon Tart, Whisper White, SU Greenhouse Gala dp
Ink- Pumpkin Pie, Pure Poppy, Summer Sun, Wild Wasabi, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa
Accessories- baker's twine, apron lace punch, Mat Stack 4 die, Mat Stack 4 Layerz die, dimensionals, stickles, pearls

My Grandma

My grandma was one of THE most incredible people on this planet. My grandma loved her family only second to God. My grandma made the absolute best scrambled eggs I have ever eaten (and were always requested when I spent the night!). My grandma always kept a supply of peanut butter cookies in the freezer for us grandkids to devour. My grandma was an accomplished pianist. My grandma loved the Lord with all her heart, soul, and mind.

My grandma sent a birthday card to every single member of our family every year of our lives thus far. My grandma served at our church for over 50 years. My grandma led a Bible study every single Sunday morning. My grandma married a man of God, raised 4 children of God whom married other God-loving people, and all have raised God-loving grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My grandma could crack a joke with the best of them, even at 93. My grandma made 17x the sugar cookie dough recipe every Christmas for the grandkids to decorate. My grandma gave up her summers for many years to live in a motor home, simply to spend time with her grandkids in San Diego.

My grandma tolerated the insane messes my cousins and I would create in her hallways (with every pillow and blanket in the house) during family holidays. My grandma prayed for me every day. My grandma was married to my grandfather for over 50 years before his passing. My grandma was an incredible teacher and was a huge inspiration in my becoming a teacher. My grandma was a woman of her word. My grandma was wonderfully stubborn. My grandma had a musical laugh and a contagious smile. My grandma was dedicated to her passions and passionately dedicated. My grandma consoled a devastated me when my lost tooth fell down the drain, assuring me the tooth fairy would know and still come that night (and she was right!).

My grandma told wonderful stories about her life on a Wisconsin farm, marrying my grandpa in the middle of WW2, receiving and sending secret letters to him... My grandma always called me to see how my weeks were going. My grandma was on facebook! My grandma was my carpool buddy to every family get-together. My grandma had an incredible green thumb. My grandma was someone I have always looked up to. My grandma gave great hugs.

My grandma was one of my best friends. My grandma was a role model of the highest degree. My grandma was an ever-inspiring image of God's love.

My grandma was loved. Immensely.

My grandma went to be with our Heavenly Father yesterday. And I will miss her so much.

Sweet Sunday Sketch #151

Oh, Sweet Sunday Sketch, how I've missed you! The moment I saw this sketch, I knew I wanted to pull out a new stamp set (to me, at least) that I grabbed in a sale back in December. Love sales. This little beehive and bee are from Taylored Expressions's Garden Party Critters. Such a cute little set!

I stamped the beehive and bee with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with my copic markers. I added some stickles to the entryway, the edge of the hive, and the bees wings for a little shimmer. The bee is popped up with a tiny dimensional. The cirle image scared me a little bit since I knew the image would go in the rectable and the sentiment in the banner. What the heck was supposed to go in that circle?! All I have to say is thank goodness for buttons! I stacked a yellow and turquoise button and tied them together with some baker's twine. Note to self: Go buy more gold jewels at Michaels. I'm out! It is a travesty, really. I made my own by coloring a few clear jewels with a copic marker. Always a good solution in a pinch, but I'm now using up all of my clear jewels!

I'm out of the classroom today doing benchmark reading with my kiddos. This midyear assessment may be my favorite. It's one of the moments when you truly step back and see just how much each and every one of the kids have grown as readers since the first week of school (aka- It's one of those days where I feel like a good teacher that has actually been teaching for the last few months. And better yet, they're actually learning!). It should be a relaxing day, which is always welcome. :)

Thank so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- TE: Garden Party Critters
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper- Going Gray, Vintage Cream, October Afternoon Farmhouse dp
Accessories- baker's twine, buttons, dimensionals, stickles, copics, jewels

Fall to Layout

Good morning! I have a special card that I've been waiting to post, and I suppose a month after the card was sent is plenty of time, lol. This card was made to celebrate my parents' 37th wedding anniversary back on December 20th! I may be slightly biased, but I have the most incredible parents on the face of this Earth.

I used an older Fall to Layout to help this sketch come to fruition, along with some new-ish dp. I love the blues and grays in the Authentique Journey collection! Such fun, rich colors. I changed up the circle with a PTI die and added some ribbon to fancy it up a bit. The heart was stamped in gray along with some versamark and embossed with some black embossing powder to really make it pop.

I'm a little short for words today, but thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Hearts of Fire, PTI: Round & Round, Mat Stack 2 Collection
Paper- Sahara Sand, Smokey Shadow, Rustic Vintage Cream, Authentique Collection: Journey
Ink- Basic Gray, Versamark
Accessories- ribbon, buttons, black ep, dimensionals, Mat Stack 2 die, Mat Stack 2 Layerz die, nestabilities

Mojo Monday on a Sunday

Ah, Mojo Monday on a Sunday. How you always motivate me to play along at the last possible second... How I scramble to finish before the ever-looming deadline. But, oh, the motivation and mojo you bring! At first glance at this week's sketch, I have to admit that I turned and ran in the other direction. Didn't even save the sketch. But, as always, the mind kept coming back to it and scheming.... Until I was forced to play along! Forced! ;)

I have been itching to pull out a bunch of new goodies I purchased back before Christmas (I know, I know... I don't know how I waited this long to bust out the goodies...) and this was the moment. Behold, new dp and new stamps. I have been staring at PTI's Harvest Berries set for a few months and finally was able to squeeze it into the budget. Yay! I die cut the largest cluster, stamped the image, and then trimmed off the bottom two big leaves to help the image fit the space without overwhelming the card.

Some sewing machine stitching and a whole lot of tea dye stain finished off this fairly basic card. I left it sentiment-less so that it can be used for anything. Sometimes these really are the best cards.

On a completely random note, I have been cooking up a storm here on the homefront. Last night I made these soft and chewy pretzels. You need to go make them. Now. They are a-maz-ing! I really think they are going to become a weekly treat, maybe even a twice-a-week treat. Man, oh man, they're good!

All right. Enough from me. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Harvest Berries
Ink- Kiwi Kiss
Paper- Simply Chartreuse, Vintage Cream, Bitty Box Basics dp, Cosmo Cricket Social Club dp
Accessories- sewing machine, tea dye stains, dimensionals, ribbon, Harvest Berries die

Mojo Monday

Good afternoon! I am home enjoying my first full day of Winter Break (and feeling relatively healthy for the first time in over a week)! The Christmas sugar cookies are out of the oven, sending an oh-so-delicious aroma throughout the house, and I sat down to some quality stamping time for the first time in a long time! Oh, how I've missed my stamps!

My card for today uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I love the tilted panels with the cirlce... For some crazy reason, I think they balance each other out really well. And since I've literally had no stamping time for the last few weeks, this is my first Christmas card of the season. So sad.

I pulled out some of my Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather dp from last year (I'm a dp hoarder, lol), along with my Holiday Button Bits stamp set. This may be my all-time favorite set. I just love the combo with buttons for Christmas. This little gingerbread man was begging to be stamped, and hit fit the circle oh-so-well. I colored him in a bit with my copics before adding the buttons with some brown baker's twine. I snuck a little homemade tab sentiment along the top and some red baker's twine in lieu of ribbon.

Have a wonderful rest of your Saturday. Next on my docket is going to be cuddling up with a book and a blanket. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Holiday Button Bits
Paper- Kraft, Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream, Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather dp
Ink- Close to Cocoa
Accessories- baker's twin (brown and red), buttons, tea dye stains, nestabilities, dimensionals, cb embossing folder, copic marker, corner rounder punch

Sketch For You To Try

Good afternoon! I am officially on Thanksgiving vacation! 9 glorious days off. I plan to fill those days to the utmost. It began this morning with being awoken, in bed, by one of my old college roomies and her 6-month-old daughter smiling at me. This was followed by cuddling on the bed with a bouncing, gummy smile!

Best. Morning. Ever.

I'm definitely squeezing in some card making, including some quality stamping time with some old co-workers tomorrow afternoon. Monday is Disneyland (and I am SO getting my Happy Birthday pin so that everyone has to say Happy Birthday to me!). Tuesday is my birthday (the roomie and I are totally having donuts for breakfast!) as well as the day my parents and I are flying up to Portland to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and her husband's family. Then it's back down here on Friday for some good relaxation, more stamping, and book-reading before school starts back up.

Yup. Be jealous.

I ran to the store to grab a few things for dinner tonight and a turkey to donate at church tomorrow. Man, those birds are heavy! Tonight's dinner? Chicken apple sausage with couscous. Yum!

My card today used this month's Sketch for You to Try. Lovin' all those straight lines again. I stamped the birdcage in black. The bird is stamped in yellow and then clear embossed for a little pop. I pulled out more new dp (Well, new to me! Just when I think I've caught up with dp a whole new line comes out! I can't keep up, lol!) and pulled my colors directly from it. The sentiment is actually from another set, Mat Stack 2 Collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Love Birds, Mat Stack 2 Collection
Paper- Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Lemon Tart, Authentique: Blissful dp
Ink- Basic Black, Versamark, Summer Sun
Accessories- ribbon, jewels, clear ep, black marker, dimensionals

Sweet Sunday Sketch #143

Good afternoon! It's an absolute knockout of a day here in So Cal. Highs in the upper 60s, sunny with big, puffy clouds here and there. Heavenly! And here I am, cooped up inside working on report cards. Something is seriously wrong with this picture...

I did manage to procrastinate a wee bit more on finishing up my report card comments to play along with today's Sweet Sunday Sketch. I love all of the squares! I knew exactly what papers I wanted to use, and went straight to my collection of verses from Verve. I found this poor little verse that had yet to see ink, and it called my name. I thought about putting a little butterfly in the corner, but I didn't have one small enough. Time for some MS punch shopping?!

I used my tea dye stains to create some shading around the square, leaving the nestie in place to leave a white frame. A slot punch allowed me to run the ribbon through the square and tie a bow, making it look a bit like a present. A beautiful present.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I really have to get back to finishing up these report card comments. Tomorrow it's back to work, but without students. It's just a work day. A day to do whatever needs to be done in our classrooms, with our grade levels, on the copy machine, etc. Truly, one of the best days of the year!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Ecc. 3:11
Paper- Kraft, Whisper White, My Mind's Eye Darling Dear dp
Ink- Kiwi Kiss
Accessories- ribbon, slot punch, nestabilities, pearls, tea dye stains, sewing machine, dimensionals

Baby Shower

Good afternoon. I'm back again with another card that was made about two weeks ago. My teammate at work (and the teacher I share a wall with a door) is having a baby in February. She's my age and we have become great friends over the last year, so I jumped all over the opportunity to make the cards for the shower the first grade team is throwing for her next month.

She mentioned her colors for the baby's room are brown and green, but said they had no theme for their little boy. Therefore, I went with a really basic, nice and general card with lots of green and brown. I pulled out my Scattered Showers set from PTI and got cranking. I had to make a little over 50 of these cards, so simplicity was the name of the game. I cut out (Yes, cut! Am I crazy?! I really need to get the die for this set...) all of the umbrella tops and popped them up. I added some chunky glitter to the bottom of the umbrella as well as to the scallops. I also clear embossed the sentiment. Some quick sewing machine action across the bottom, and done! Well, then multiply by 50 and then done! These have officially gone out to the staff and we're excited to celebrate this new addition to our staff family!

OK. Back to report cards (and maybe a little stamping in between). Have a wonderful afternoon! Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Scattered Showers
Paper- Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate, Turning a New Leaf dp, Whisper White
Ink- Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories- clear embossing powder, sewing machine, scallop edge punch, chunky glitter, dimensionals, tea dye stains

Mojo Monday

Good afternoon, everyone. I have no excuse for my long absence other than for some reason, getting back into the groove of work seemed just a little more tiring than usual. I've been stamping here and there, but often am just mentally exhausted when I get home and find myself just curling up on the couch with a good book. I guess the book-a-holic side of me was a little more prominent over the last few weeks. :)




But, alas, I am back with a card to share with you that was made, oh, over a month ago, lol. This card used a Mojo Monday sketch from also about a month back. I played around with some more of my stash of new (to me) dp. This just happens to be My Mind's Eye Honey Cake. Such fun oranges and reds and teals.

That's it from me. It's back to working on report cards and finishing up my book. Breaks to read are a must in between report cards. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Happy Birthday
Paper- Kraft, Whisper White, MME Honey Cake dp
Ink- Tangerine Tango
Accessories- twine, pearls, medium scallop die (PTI)