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)

Deconstructed Sketch #16

Good afternoon! I'm attempting not to melt in my own house as the heat is absolutely ridiculous today. My poor little air conditioner is running it's heart out. We hit 100F before noon! Sheesh! Some friends are heading to Disneyland a little later today, but I graciously bowed out. Disneyland on the hottest day of the year? No thanks. I'll pass. That's the beauty of having an annual pass. I'll just wait until a cooler day. No guilt. :)

I have also officially survived the first two days of school. It's always a bit of a shock getting the brand new first graders and remembering that they really are kindergarten babies. Little guys. Young, scared, but ready to learn. It's such a journey to get them to the end of the year. My last memory is of my kids all reading confidently, writing, spelling correctly, etc. Fast forward to now, and we're starting all over, lol. Ah, but that journey is part of what makes teaching so much fun. :) But did I mention my feet are killing me?! Every year, the first week or two is really about retraining my feet to stand for hours on end. I never get to sit down with these little guys!

I decided to play around with this week's Deconstructed Sketch and some October Afternoon dp. A dear friend of mine has a birthday coming up and this will make a great card for her! The color scheme is a little brighter than my normal, but so much fun! Cheery, don't you think? I added some baker's twine under the sentiment, paper pieced the cupcake wrapper, and colored the frosting with my copics. I put a little glossy accents on top of the cherry for the finishing touch.

Well, it's back to hiding in the darkness and the air conditioning. I'm feeling a few more cards in my near future since it's too warm to do anything else. No cooking, no cleaning, no moving. The AC can barely keep up! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- MFT: It's a Cupcake Kind of Day, PTI: Mega Mixed Messages
Paper- Spring Moss, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, October Afternoon Seaside dp
Ink- Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories-baker's twine, dimensionals, nestabilities, tea dye stains, copic markers, glossy accents

Sweet Sunday Sketch #131

Good afternoon! I'm headed into my classroom shortly with the hope that the office is going to release the names of our students to us today. I really need to start in on all of the personalizing everything in my classroom. It's one of the joys of teaching early primary. Without a name on it, the item will grow legs, walk across the room, end up in someone else's desk, result in a crying kid that can't find that item and is convinced someone stole it.... Do you see where this is going? Kids are possessive! Plus, it keeps me sane to know who left what where.

This morning I took the opportunity to play along with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch. This one took a bit of staring, mostly because I don't have any tall panel images (other than sentiments). I have long and wide images, square images, but no tall! So, when in doubt, flip the sketch. Tadah! I grabbed this little a la carte stamp from Taylored Expressions when I did my big paper order. With all of the people having babies lately, and all of the baby showers I have created cards for, attended, made invitations, etc, this card will definitely get used.

I pulled out yet another new paper pad, My Mind's Eye's Six by Six pad called Blink of an Eye. Love the soft colors in this paper pad! It screamed baby card at me this morning. I paper pieced the letters and colored the pacifier with my copics. Some really light blue pearls I picked up at CHA (almost two years ago!) finished off the corners. And, gasp! There is absolutely no ribbon or twine on this card! I couldn't figure out where to put it! I guess it will make a really good mailing card. No extra postage. :)

To my many friends and fellow teachers, have a wonderful first day of school today! I know a big bunch of you start today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- TE: Welcome Baby
Paper- Kraft, Vintage Cream, MME Six by Six- Blink of an Eye
Ink- Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories- pearls, copics, apron lace punch, tea dye stain