More school cards

I am still on a school kick and using my new CHF stamps, which I am totally loving! The company has such great images that really catch my attention and have this fun vibe that I want to reflect in the cards I am creating (and scrapbook pages that I have planned in my head, but haven't gotten to yet). I've signed up on their board and have been looking around the last few days. They have a great community with really friendly and very welcoming crafters. Made me feel right at home already! Like many other boards they have challenges and stuff like that which are really great springboards to getting your creative juices flowing and get people to connect and interact. So I tried one last night (last week's sketch challenge) after I finished cutting up the rest of the new stamp sets I got. I finished it, I had to wait until today to post. I was up so late doing a few different things - always juggling it seems like. I was down in DC for a day trip for work and the train I had to be on wasn't leaving too much later than when I finally laid down to go sleep. Crazy how when I was younger I could sleep until noon and it never felt like enough, and today...well, let's just it is a good thing that I don't need too much sleep to function - LOL ...Maybe it's because I know that is all I am going to get sleep-wise if I want to get everything I need to get accomplished - who knows? In any case, there is just not enough time in the day (and I know that I am not the only person who feels this way). Too bad I couldn't whip some up and create more time in the way we create cards and other paper crafting products... LOL!

Anyway, back to the card - I seem to be doing a lot of cutting lately, sometimes with paper piecing, but in this case not really so much. I stamped the wormy on some BG PP that have had for while in the scrap bin and cut him out. I stamped the apples twice - one time with Versamark and embossed it with clear powder and a second time in green for the stem. I cut the apples out and laid them together. I'm going to put this one aside and surprise one of the boys with it when something great happens at school in the near future. I know that they will love it. My middle guy loves the wormy and has stamped with it already (I think he might have inked it up first). They all love to play with my stamps and made scenes and color in the images. And I must say that they are pretty good about being careful with my stuff most of the time. They know all the rules about cleaning them and being careful with the inks.

Ok off to do other stuff before bed!

Details:

Stamps: CHF - Making the Grade, Four Square and Writing Paper Scrapblock; CS: SU Brocade Blue, PTI Cream and Lemon Tart, BG PP (don't have the name anymore since it was just a scrap), Chatterbox - the red side of Cowboy Paisley for the apples; Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black and Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy; Other: SU - Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder and Paper Piercer

Inspired...

This is my first try at one of Beate's Be Inspired challenges. I have been wanting to try them for awhile, but I never seem to get to them during the week. And by then I am usually trying to the WSC. But I was inspired to get a second card done last night and got to work. I really loved the colors in the Pottery Barn pic this week and used that and the four drawers as my starting point and went from there. I got this single image from CHF with the other sets on Friday and thought it would work well in this card (plus I just wanted to use it!) I colored it and applied the Crystal Effects on the jar and as droplets on the flowers for added interest and let it dry over night. I love practicing with my copics. I really wish one of this certification classes would come to my area, I would totally go. I need so much practice and would love the professional teaching. Anyway, so I put the rest of the card together this morning. I like the sentiment from yesterday's card - and I thought that it worked on this one too. This could definitely be another teacher card, or just one for someone I appreciated in general, right?

Hope that everyone fared well through Hurricane Hanna. We did pretty considering that we were supposed to get lots of rain. We did get the rain, but it held off long enough to get my oldest son's fall baseball game/practice in, but not the flag football practice. Oh well, 1 out of 2 is not bad considering no one thought we'd get either in! We hung out inside and played lots of Wii with my brother and his wife, who came over, and just eat in, which we don't usually do on a Saturday night. No way we were going to brave the rain! :)

The sun is shining so brightly today - hopefully the rain is gone until another day! :)

Details:

Stamps: CHF - Daisy Jar, Making the Grade; CS: SU Creamy Caramel, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, PTI Stamper's Select; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and SU Baja Breeze; Other: SU Jumbo Eyelets, Dimensionals and Copics

First Teacher Card of the School Year.

The first day of school (which was last Thursday) happily went off without a hitch. The boys are sooo excited about their classes, their teachers and school in general. My kids in school for a fun day and then after-school programs and they still don't want to come home at the end of the day because they are having so much fun! I love that they are still at an age where they can't wait for school every morning. Tooooo cute.

Lots of first for us this year... This is the first year that everyone is officially in school. My littlest guy is in preschool - no more day care for our family (FINALLY... but in a bittersweet way). He looked so sweet with his lunchbox and book bag on his back... so determined to be a big boy going to school! My middle guy rode the bus for the first time this year (although I did stop by after dropping off my preschooler to make sure he made it safely to class ;) , which of course he did!). My oldest guy also started a new school, as the 3rd and 4th grader are in their own building (K-2 are in their own building). He is such a pro now and they really don't baby the students there anymore... there's no more name tags for the bus driver or teachers or anything like that. He just hopped on the bus and away he went.

As a mom that works full time out of the house, I especially am so grateful for caring and wonderful teachers given the amount of time they spend with my children during the week. I am a big believer in "spoiling" them and really letting them know how much I appreciate and value them. They are so critical to my children's development not just academically, but socially as well, when we are not with them.

Strangely enough, I had never bought a school-themed stamp set until I bought the Making the Grade from CHF. This is my 2nd Kim Hughes set in as many weeks, and I love the images in this set. I especially love the sentiments in this set, which included the word teacher and "you are appreciated." I can see myself using these sentiments many times in the future... especially when it comes to the teacher gifts at the holidays and end of the year.

I just got this set in the mail yesterday and I wanted to use it for Beate's sketch this weekend. Again, I turned the sketch 90 degrees to make it work with the stamps and idea I had. I really love Beate's sketches - they really help me out as I practice and just enjoy stamping and making cards {Thanks, Beate!}. I also used my nesties - the square scallop and the petite circle and scallops (love the petites!)

Details:

Stamps: CHF - Making the Grade; CS: PTI - Kraft, SU - Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, My Mind's Eye PP; Ink: SU Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss; Other: Dimensionals, Nesties

Holding on to the Summer Time

Whew - I can't believe that it is September. The summer is officially over, but I am still holding on tightly to this wonderful weather and fun days our family has been sharing during my vaca! Luckily, I still have a few more days.

I have been working over the last few days on 20 of these TY cards (my goal is to get them done before vaca is over, but it is going to be CLOSE), in between hanging out with the boys, enjoying the wonderful weather we have been having and getting everything ready for school. We even put them to bed at the time they would have to go to sleep for school. My oldest has an EARLY pick up for the bus - 7:18am according to the notice we got in the mail, so it will take some getting used to for the new schedule. I wanted to ease them into it so they wouldn't be soooo tired for the 1st day of school which will be this Thursday.

So as I started to write, I have been trying to squeeze in making the TY cards and had been working on them tonight, since everyone was in bed nice and early. It has taken me longer than anticipated because of all the scalloped squares and also embossed squares! Geez - I love the nesties, but I have to remember that it takes time (and a lot of it) to run the CS through the CB (and 2x for the embossed squares!) when planning a card that I need to make more than a couple of at a time. So in between all the CB'ing, I took a break and made a card with a "new" (for me at least... you know that story about how cutting edge I am with keeping up with stamp releases!) set from Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms. It was the first time I bought anything from that site, and I really like the clean and crisp images you get from their unmounted sets. I also really like Kim's drawing style as well.

This one is all about the paper piecing really. And as you can see, I am really holding on tightly to the summer. I just ordered an autumn set from Kim Hughes (taking advantage of their Labor Day promo), but I am still in the summer state of mind...

Not sure who I'll be giving this too in the near future, since summer is over, but I'll just keep it in my little stash until the right occasion/time of year presents itself.

I better get back to the other summer (TY) cards on my list to-do now...

Details:

Stamps: Summer Fun, Making the Grade (for the sentiment- Summer Fun only has images!); CS: SU - Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Summer Sun, PTI - Stamper Select White, Kraft, Other - Dimensionals (yes, this is a very simple card with the focus on the paper piecing, but I thought anything more would be too much!)

Monkeys Two Day in a Row!!

I just noticed that I created 2 monkey cards 2 days in a row! And didn't I just say yesterday that I really am not into animal stamps? Hmmm - so I guess this must be a new phase. LOL

This morning, I really wanted to get back into Beate's weekend sketches AND use the new Sock Monkey set. Her sketch this weekend worked better at a 90 degree angle with the idea I had in my head, so I went with that.

I really like how vibrant the In-Colors are, especially Pacific Point. There wasn't any blue in the monkeys and the bananas and I wasn't planning on using it on this card, but I happened to lay all the different bananas that I had been cutting out on a scrap of the Pacific point from yesterday's card. I love how it popped out and complimented the bananas, so it made its way onto the card.

Hope you like it!

Details:

Stamps: SU - Sock Monkey; CS: SU Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, PTI-Cream; Inks: SU - Pacific Point; Other: BG Button, Copics, Dimensionals

Love this little monkey...

...but it has taken quite some time to turn him into this card! I have had this image colored in just sitting on my craft table for weeks with the intent of using it for my littlest's guys thank you cards for his birthday party last month. I was so excited to use my new square nesties and copics, but then I just stopped. Don't really know why, and it's not even like I stopped papercrafting altogether - in fact its been quite the opposite! But now I really think it was because something was telling me to wait until I got the new SU in-colors in my hands. I ordered all of the inks and paper (which I haven't done with any in-colors until now) - I just loved the colors when I saw them... they were so calling out to me. And they must have been calling loudly, b/c as I've told my friend, Jennifer, I need more ink and paper like I need a hole in the head! Oh well. I couldn't resist.

Anyway, I was pretty pleased when I figured out the colors I used to color the image matched 3 of the in-colors perfectly. So the rest of the card came together pretty quickly tonight. And it's a good thing, because all in all, this card took me about 3 1/2 weeks to make. The next 20 definitely can't take that long. My goal - have them done by the time my vaca is over and the kids are back to school.

I have been trying to mix-up the layouts I used, even though they tend to clean and simple, so they are not always the same (and without just using someone else sketch EVERY SINGLE TIME - trying to get my own creative juices going for once!) This time, I made myself not put the image in the middle just to see how it turned out... I don't usually do top left corner, but I think it works.

PS - This is the first set that I have gotten from CC Designs at All That Scraps. He and other images from the set are too fun. I usually don't like animal images that are too cutesy (or too realistic for that matter), but these I could not pass up. I've actually bought a few sets from new companies (to me, I mean), like ATS, so I better get creating!

Details: Stamps - CC Designs Summertime Fun, PTI Paper Trey; CS - SU Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, PTI-Stamper's Select; Ink - SU Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Palette Hybrid Noir; Other: Dimensionals, Nesties, Paper Piercer, Copics.

Cards for a Good Cause

It's been a few quiet months blog-wise, but I have actually been quite busy all around. I can't believe that the summer season is coming to a close with Labor Day coming up with this weekend. Hopefully though the summer weather will stick around much longer. It has been a great summer - the kids all had a blast at their different camps. My youngest brother got married (what a fun time) and we spent lots of quality time with family all-around.

I wanted to share these three cards that I made as part of a larger group that I sent over to Jennifer for her golf fundraiser. She has been in charge of a golf tournament that will benefit for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. What a huge undertaking and I hope that it goes well. I'm sure that it will! :) She had asked me and her other stamping friends for card donations that she will put together for one of the prizes.

I wanted to make few cards with my IA stamps because that is how we first met - on the IA boards! I should really get back into visiting that boards (funny how things go in phases...). The gals there have always been super nice and Jackie from IA is great too. I love their fun images, and especially loved the fun monsters! And of course I had to make boy cards, which seem to come the easiest for me. But I hope that it brings some variety to the selection of cards.

All the monsters on the cards are paper pieced. The cards are all simple, but fun! I hope that whoever wins the prize enjoys my cards! :)

Details: Stamps- IA stamps and PTI (for the Birthday sentiments); Inks: Tsuneiko (light blue, but can't remember the name right now), Palette Hybrid Noir, SU - Ruby Red (craft); CS - SU Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red; BG PP (Stella Ruby, I think?), PTI Stamper's Select.; Other: BG Brad (on the soccer card)