One Sad Little Girl

There was one sad little girl that got off the bus this afternoon. My friend's daughters stay with me after school every afternoon and have for the past several years. You know how if you are around a kid for a while you can tell by the way they get off the bus how their day went? I could tell as soon as I saw Samantha this afternoon that she was not a happy camper. She handed me a wadded up piece of paper to read as soon as she got in. Their school participates in the Accelerated Reader Program, the students earn points by reading books and then taking tests on the computer. She is six and in the first grade so this s her first year participating in the program. There are prizes earned for different point levels and she has been working so hard to earn the fifty points needed to receive a t-shirt. The best part of having the t-shirt is that once you have earned one you can wear your t-shirts on AR assembly days and be out of dress code. The cut off day for taking tests and earning points was Friday. The wadded up piece of paper was her final point tally of 49.6 points. Less than half a point away from her goal. Later she told her mom that a card from me would make her feel better so this is the card that she will get tomorrow. I used MFT's What's the Story Flopsy and made a card that I know she will love. When she makes cards she like to use the ticket corner punch and the acrylic drops and I also used some orange which is one of her favorite colors. Paper is DCWV and Flopsy was colored with Prisma markers.  Thanks for checking in tonight!

Howdy!

Quick post tonight! I don't usually have time to make anything on Wednesdays. I made this card using the sketch from SCS challenge for today. This adorable horse is Charlie and  he is from Clear Dollar Stamps. He was stamped with Memento ink and then colored with Prisma markers. All the paper is from the Paper Studio and the brads are from Jo-Ann's. I finished it off with some twine at the top.

Here is a card that Samantha made on her own. She has been coming up with her own designs for the past few weeks. She stamped this flower from the Petal Factory set that I used on the card last night. The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and then blended. Her paper is from SEI. After getting it together she decided it needed some beads in the corners so she added these acrylic baubles. She loves posting some of her artwork on my blog and would do it everyday if I would let her. Actually she would like her own blog! Let us know what you think!

Construction Birthday Card

I needed a couple of boy themed birthday cards so I made this one.  I used stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps, stamped with Memento black ink and then colored with Prismacolor markers. I sponged CTMH Chocolate ink on the ground for the dirt and then cut out my images and then glued them down, the trucks are popped up with foam squares. The yellow paper was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I picked that one because it looks like little roads that the trucks could have made.These trucks make me think of my brother, when he was little he loved Tonka trucks. We spent many hours in the dirt and mud moving rocks from place to place with his trucks. I didn't have cars for my Barbies and he would get upset when they would end up in his trucks.

If you look on my sidebar you will see a listing for the Surfin' Oceans 11 blogger group. Check them out when you have time, there are some very talented people listed there. I have had so much fun with my other blogger group that I wanted to take part with another group. Of course belonging to the first group helped get me hooked on House Mouse stamps, so I can't wait to see what I learn from the new group.

I have a new toy! I go through so much adhesive and have been looking for a cheaper alternative for a while. I  found a couple of things that were cheaper but they were either frustrating to use or they did not hold my projects together. After a lot of reading on SCS, I decided to get an ATG-50 from The Tape Depot. It arrived last week. It is a little large but it is lightweight and not difficult to use. The first time I tried to use it, I loaded the tape backwards and it didn't work but after I loaded it the right way, it works like a dream. 

Exercise in Patience

This is the card that I made for Jenna for Valentine's Day. I couldn't decide what to make her, but she really loves the Rileys from Hanna Stamps. Even though this isn't really a Valentine stamp, she will love it. She is a typical nine year old girl and loves pinks and purples. The paper here is DCWV, brads are from Making Memories and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I colored the image with Prisma markers and then went over the knitting needles with a Spica gel pen. Notice the pink and purple yarn?

Are you wondering about the title of this post? It ties in the with card and my afternoon. Samantha has been begging me to teach her to crochet and for months I have been saying "one day" for about six months now. Tuesday we were in Wal-Mart and happened to be in the craft area (I know, shock, right?). She saw the yarn and sighed like only a six year old can and said "I guess I will ever learn how to crochet" and then sighed again. It was quite dramatic but it did the trick. I explained, again, that it would take a little while to learn. She was one happy little girl picking out her bright colored yarn. Today was our first lesson. Samantha wants to make a blanket for one of her Web-Kinz and Jenna wants to make a scarf with her pink and purple yarn. So that was my day, hope you had a great one too!

Stamp Something Recipe Challenge

It's been a while since I have participated in a challenge over at Stamp Something, since before the holidays I think.  When I saw the challenge this week I knew I was something I would enjoy. The challenge was to make something to do with a recipe. One of the gifts that I plan to give this year are family cookbooks. I am not sure when I am going to get them all done, but this is the first one. I used Kiss the Cook by Hanna Stamps and colored the image in with a combination of Prisma markers and Copics. I colored in the area behind the main image with a cool blue and decided to try my hand at drawing floor boards and coloring them in as well. I have seen several cards lately with the wooden floors, I think the first blog I saw them on was Candace's blog Rubbah Soul. On these composition books, I ran the ribbon from the bottom of the book up to the top and then left enough ribbon that it goes all the way thorough the length of the page to be used as a bookmark. I used the threading water punch around the image. The stamp above the main image is a See Ds stamp, it was a larger stamp that  trimmed down a little to fit in the area that I had. In person, those blues match a little better. I am still working on Kip's computer and it's a Mac. Until mine died I have never used it before. I am still getting used to the photo editing though and haven't quite got the hang of it. Thanks for stopping by today. Let me know what you think of my recipe book!

Home Organization Binder

No school today! Since the girls' mom is out of town I decided to take to day off too, they hate going to Kid's Club at the school. Jenna is writing a story for and illustrating it with my stamps. She needed a toucan stamp and imagine my surprise when I actually found one! Other than that we are just hanging out, taking it easy.

One of my main goals this year is to get a little more organized. When I saw this project on Erica's blog,  knew I needed one too. We have been doing better with our home organization, but it's nice to have everything in one spot. I used Boards and Beams from PTI for the house and the letters are Sizzix Round Table alphabet set. My wonderful friend Julie let me borrow this image and I loved it so much I had to order my own. My house is colored with Prisma markers. I could not get a picture of this without the flash showing up and without the flash it was just too dark. 

If you are interested, inside my binder are dividers and I have the following sections:

     Calendar: We both have schedules that change frequently and I cannot live without a      

         calendar. I have calendars for the entire year for long term planning. On our refrigerator

         we have a dry erase calendar that has a space for each day of the week. On Sunday nights I

         transfer that week's information. If I am really on top of everything I also write in the 

         meals so I know what needs to be pulled out of the freezer each day.

      Housework Lists: We made lists of things that need to be done around the house and then 

         separated that list into things that need to be done on a daily basis, weekly basis and a 

         monthly basis. We alternate who does what. Kip also had the great idea for us both to 

         come up with what needs to be done for it to be considered done. For instance, one of us

         HATES putting away laundry and when it is my my turn, I forget to put it away. All those

         lists are in this section.

     Projects: A new thing for us,but we are planning to do some rearranging and other things 

         around the house and this is where we will keep up with all that information. 

     Goals: Just a way to track our progress as we try to meet certain goals, right now, saving for         furniture.

     Menu: I try to preplan our meals, sometimes doing better than others. My meal planners 

        are in this section as well as recipes that I find and want to try. Erica's blog is great for 

        that too! 

     Lists: I will keep things like birthday lists, Christmas lists and other things like that in here.

Plus there is a section for each of us to file things in and a folder with a velcro closure for receipts. Have a great day!

Wrapping Presents

So do you enjoy wrapping gifts? I do for about the first four gifts and then I am over it! Fortunately my mom normally visits some time before the holidays and she LOVES to wrap gifts. She also enjoys folding laundry. I know, weird, right? And you thought I was strange after reading those random facts the other day. Well they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I made this card using that pack of paper that I got at Hobby Lobby. The Christmas tree is from the same pack, there is a page filled with trees, Santa, wreaths, and other festive images. I just cut this one out to use here. I decided to try something a little different here by not using matting around my main image. I couldn't decide for sure, but I think I like it for a nice simple look. Hanna is colored with Prisma markers. The gift and ribbon were also colored with Prismas but after they were colored I went over them with Spica markers. The ribbon is also from Hobby Lobby. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Normally I try to be done with the shopping by Thanksgiving, but this year I haven't even started. I have started on my homemade items though. Have a great day!

Meow means "I Love You"

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent the weekend at my parents house. I got to spend some time with my niece, she had an art project due. We made an Arctic diorama. Kip taught her to make penguins using Sculptey clay. I wish I had taken a picture of it, it turned out very cute. We got home much later last night than we had planned, so I came in, started a load of laundry and then crashed.

There is a story behind my little cat card here. I have a friend, Judy that teases me, good-naturedly about my crafting habits. I tease her about a lot of other stuff. This weekend she had a cat that has been hiding out in her garage. Of course, her daughters are begging to keep the cat and have already named her (Hailey-because that rhymes with their puppy's name, Bailey). They are feeding the cat but she told them it could not come inside because it did not have a litter box. They came by here tonight and since we have three cats, Jenna wanted to know if they could borrow one of our litter boxes until the weekend! So I decided to make this card for Judy, just for kicks and giggles. I colored the cat above to look like the cat in her garage. I was looking through my stamps tonight looking for something that I wanted to work with and as soon as I saw this one I thought of making here this funny card. All of the stamps are from Clear Dollar Stamps. The "Meow" part of the sentiment is from the Cat Toys set, but the rest was computer generated. Images were colored using Prisma markers and the paper is DCWV. I hope you all have a friend like Judy that you can laugh with!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I braved Wal*Mart this afternoon to get groceries and came home and did most of my cooking this afternoon. This year we are having Thanksgiving in town with Kip's parents. My contributions to dinner are Cranberry Chutney and Green Bean Casserole and the most amazing Pumpkin Cookies. I got the recipe from Erica's blog and they are so delicious and they make the house smell so good. My card here uses the sketch from today's challenge on SCS. Riley is colored with Prismacolor markers and I added some silver Gelly Roll pen on the buckle on his hat. I used about 5 different colors on the turkey. I think the turkey looks a little happy here. Maybe, Riley gave him a pardon? Pretty simple card tonight. Happy Thanksgiving is from Studio G and was stamped with CTMH Chocolate ink. All my paper is from DCWV.

I know I have a lot to be thankful this year. If you want to keep reading I will list a couple of them for you. Of course I am thankful for my husband and my family so these are some other things:

1. I am thankful for friendships that have gotten stronger over the last year.

2. I am thankful for new friends, especially three ladies that joined our Sign Language class this year. I am so thankful that I have gotten the chance to get to know Janet, Leslie and Vi. They are all crafters! All three are such beautiful ladies that have enriched my life so much in the short time I have known them.

3. I am thankful for my job.

4. I am thankful for this blog and the friendships that it has brought me.

5. I am thankful that Julie and Angela have encouraged my hobby and taught me so many new things to do ( my wallet isn't so thankful though!).

6. I am thankful that I don't have crazy in-laws! Mine are great enough that we go on vacation with them every year and it is fun! They will even sit outside of craft stores and wait on me for almost two hours!

Gingerbread Man- Challenge #3

Here is my entry for Blogger Group Challenge #3. It was a sketch challenge. I stamped my gingerbread man twice, colored both with Prisma markers and cut one out and pop dotted it on top of the other one. I used Liquid Applique for the "icing" around his arms and legs and brads for his "buttons". I used Christmas Red Stickles on his cheeks and the little gingerbread girl button is from a set called Dress it Ups (I think). The gingerbread man stamp is from Stampabilities and the "Warmest Holiday Wishes" is from See Ds Christmas mini set. The paper is from Hobby Lobby. If you want to create something with this sketch too, leave and comment with a link to your blog/gallery. Here is the sketch that Danielle provided for us to use:

I have had a very productive weekend in my craft room! I have hardly left the room at all-only when I needed to refill my glass of Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. Boy, oh boy, I really do love that stuff. Of course it is a seasonal item so I buy it and only drink that until Christmas! I have made several ornaments, cards and some various gifty type items. We are having a Christmas Showcase and crafting day at church in two weeks so I am trying to get as much done as possible before we go out of town. I hope you had a great and creative weekend as well!

Altered Composition Book

This is my fist attempt at making an altered composition book. I am making Christmas gifts for the girls' teachers, they will be getting "desk sets", including one of these books and the matching pen (I think you can see it at the bottom of the book). I haven't decided what else I am going to add, I know a bookmark and a post-it note holder. There will probably be some type of notecards as well. I bought a bunch of these books before school started while they were on sale pretty cheap. My stamp here is from the teacher set from Hanna Stamps, I stamped the image with Brilliance ink and colored with Prisma and Copic markers. I have mostly Prismas but most all of the skin colors I use are Copics. My papers are from The Paper Studio and the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. I love the sentiment in this set. I think that is the mark of a great teacher; if you can spark a child's curiosity and teach them how to satisfy it, you have given that child a true gift. So what do you think of my desk set? Any suggestions for other items to include?

Happy Birthday Kip!!

Quick post today because today is my husband's birthday. Happy Birthday Kip! This is the birthday card that I made for him. I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug folder, I knew I wanted a more distressed look so I made sure that my card stock from DCWV had a white core. After embossing, I went over the raised areas, lightly, with a sanding block. Changito was stamped with Palette ink and then colored with Prisma markers. I stamped the birthday message with CTMH Olive ink. I wrapped the bottom with some hemp around the bottom and bada bing, a birthday card for my hubby!

Sea Turtles

I love turtles, all kinds, but especially sea turtles. I think they look so majestic swimming through the water, so peaceful and serene. This was another stamp that I got when we were on vacation in Indiana, and I think one of the last ones that hadn't been inked up yet. The stamp is from Great Impressions.I wanted to create a background that looked like water. I painted with Twinkling H20s, using several shades of blue and a couple of greens, then after that dried, I stamped my image. The turtles were stamped twice, colored with Prisma markers and then I used pop dots for dimension. You can see some of the shimmer in my water, but in person it is very shimmery. To finish off the card I attached some pretend dew drops across the top. Have a great night!

Snowman

The weekend is finally here! I hope everyone had a great day. I got to go see High School Musical 3 this afternoon. I know you are jealous! I did get some crafting time too. I am back to working on my Christmas cards. We send out a lot of cards every year and I don't send the same card to everyone. Not every one is an original and I do normally make several that are the same, I just don't do one design for everyone. The biggest reason I don't do them all alike is that I get bored making the same thing that many times. Plus I have lots (and lots) of Christmas stamps and I want to use them all! I did get an early start on my cards this year, for the first time ever, but it is time to really start getting busy. This is a set from Clear Dollar Stamps called Wagon Wishes. There are several different things that you can put in your wagon in addition the the snowman. The snowman is stamped using Palette ink and everything is colored with Prisma markers. I used Liquid Applique and glitter for the snow. For the first time, I decided to sponge in some color for the background. I used the Cuttlebug Snow Dots embossing folder and the snowflakes are punched with the Martha Stewart snowflake punch. I have seen several cards lately with pearls in the center of the snowflakes and I really like the way they look and I happened to have some in my stash. They came from Hobby Lobby, but not sure of the maker. Enjoy your weekend!

Fall Fun

How much fun can one little girl and a small puppy have in a big pile of leaves? We had so much fun the other day playing outside. As soon as the pile would get spread out, Samantha would rake them back up and then start jumping and throwing them again. She kept trying to bury the dog, but Bailey wasn't cooperating with her!

In honor of all the beautiful fall leaves, I decided to make a card with this stamp. This is Charlie and he is from Clear Dollar Stamps. There are several Charlie images available, but I think this is one of my favorites.

I colored Charlie with Prisma markers. The paper is DCWV and the ribbon is from Jo-Anns. I love all the seasons and the changes that occur but I find the fall colors inspiring. I love watching these colors emerge every year. It is funny, but I have favorite trees that I particularly enjoy watching change. What makes my favorite trees my favorite? Definitely the colors but also where they are located and how they are situated in their surroundings. I know, I'm weird, right? I hope you have been able to get out and enjoy all the beauty outdoors.

I hope you have had time to check out some of the blogs on my sidebar. I am amazed by the talent I find every day. Check out Sarah's blog, she is giving away some cool blog candy.

Hippy Chick

Isn't this one of the most fun stamps, ever? I loved it as soon as I saw this new release from Hanna Stamps. In addition to these images, there are some accessory pieces, including a lava lamp that brings back memories for me. I had to wear glasses starting in kindergarten and my eye doctor had a lava lamp in his waiting room. I would sit there the whole time watching those globs of lava break apart and float around, I was fascinated. I made this card for my friend Angela's mom, tomorrow is her birthday. So Happy Birthday Rebecca! My Hippy Chick is colored with Prisma markers, the flower "iron-ons" are covered with pink fun flock and the stitching is done with yellow Liquid Applique. I went over the chains in her belt with a gold Spica marker. I cut out the image and used pop dots to attach her. I don't normally have tie-dyed paper, but the last time I took the girls to JoAnn's Samantha picked out this paper and I traded with her to get it. The paper is from Paper Pizazz and the card stock is DCWV. Those flowers are from the dollar bin at Jo-Anns some time ago and the brads are from The Paper Studio.

Another 70's memory for me: see the pink border on the bottom of the jeans? I colored that in honor of my mother who used to sew ruffles around the bottoms of my jeans when they would get too short! I am not scarred by that memory or anything! I was rather tall as a child and my pants would get too short too quick and that was her solution!

Baby Card

Happy Monday to everyone! This was the other card I made for the Hanna Stamps release party. The challenge was to make a baby card using no pastels. That was a little harder than I thought it would be. Every piece of paper I found that I wanted to use had lighter (pastel) shades in it. I used my Cuttlebug Numbers embossing folder on the orange piece of paper because it made me think of the hours of the night going by while Riley is pacing the floor with the baby. The sentiment is one I generated on the computer and printed out on card stock. The polka dots weren't quite the right shade of blue so I went over them with a Sakura Glaze pen. I really am hooked on the dots right now, I don't seem to be able to make anything without them. Riley is colored with Prisma markers. All paper is from DCWV, except maybe the polka dots, it was from our scrap stash.

Bookworm Hanna

New Hannas and Rileys were released this week! For the first time ever, I decided to check out the release party on SCS. What fun that was! It was very fast paced and the two hours on the computer just flew by. In honor of the new releases, I decided to ink up this Hanna that I have had for a while and hadn't used. I am an avid reader so I really love this stamp. I wanted it to look like she was in her favorite reading corner reading one book and the next ones ready to go. It is very rare to see me without a book somewhere nearby. Even when we go on vacation, I have to make sure I have one book with me and then at least a couple of spares in my suitcase. I even read two books when we were on our honeymoon, because Kip sleeps longer than I do. The deets on the card: image was stamped with Palette ink and colored with Prisma markers and Copics. Hanna is stamped twice and I used pop dots to attach the two images. Everything else was cut out and then added to my reading corner. I love that the paper looks a little like wallpaper. I think it is MME, but I am not 100% sure. The area behind her was a little blank so I made a picture to hang on the wall with a SU butterfly stamped with CTMH Key Lime ink. This card took a long time for me to make, I think I will frame it and hang it in my craft room!

Thank you so much for all the get well wishes. I am feeling somewhat human again! We had our monthly craft night at church last night and had so much fun. I think our group was about 16 people. We always have so much fun. Next month we will be making some things for Christmas, if you are local, hope you can join us. Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin Patch Riley

I have been playing around with challenges on SCS and on other people's blogs for a while, but don't usually submit them! I really enjoy them so I have decided to play along more often. I like the way the challenges often get me thinking in a different direction than I would normally go. This card was made using the Sketch Challenge on SCS today. I used Riley in the Pumpkin Patch, stamped with Palette black ink and colored it in with Prisma markers. The paper is from DCWV and the brads are from Paper Studio. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

Halloween Card

Wow it has been a busy weekend. I actually got up and out early yesterday to go to a couple of yard sales. Saturday mornings are normally my time to relax and just basically recharge my batteries. I don't normally go out until later in the day and on occasion, I don't go out all day! A couple of SU demos were having a retired stamp set sale near me. That is the reason I decided to get out! I got several sets and a new catalog. Then it was off to Samantha's birthday party where I was the entertainment! We decorated t-shirts with stamps and paints. After that was the dreaded trip to the grocery store. We both hate grocery shopping and put it off until there is nothing to eat in the house. Well actually, the joke is that we go when there is nothing left but a can of chick peas! I gave Kip the day off and went to the store alone which I never do.

I finally had some time to sit down and stamp and here is one of the Halloween cards that I got done. The stamp is Witchy from the CTMH Little Spooks set. I colored her with Prisma markers. The DP and cardstocks are from DCWV, the DP has Halloween related words written on it. I think the buttons are from Making Memories and the floss is from DMC. Thanks for stopping by tonight and have a great week.