Student Alliterations

Walking past one of the classrooms the other day, these MOST adorable creations really caught my eye!  Our 3rd graders were working on alliterations in their Language Arts class.  I remember so clearly doing this with my 4th graders!

Just wanted to show you some of their awesome work!  Please enjoy.

Valentine Cookies

Williams Sonoma had an unusual cookie cutter in their February catalog - an enormous heart!  It's about 6 inches tall, and almost 8 inches across.  I had to search for it in the store, and found a bunch hiding on the bottom rack of a display in a basket.

I rolled the cookie dough out a lot thinner than usual since the cookie is so large.  They were lots of fun to decorate!

 I had white and red fondant at the house, so I stopped at a local cake shop to pick up some pink fondant, and found some purple/pink/red heart sprinkles. 

 I baked 6 of the large hearts.  Our neighbors received a selection of the smaller cookies, spritz, and 1 or 2 of the larger cookies.

 On the trays, you can see the spritz cookies I LOVE to make!  I bought a Hershey's chocolate cookbook, and it had a chocolate spritz recipe.  The dough was not as nice as my butter spritz recipe, but they tasted fantastic.

 I like to dip the spritz cookies in the Wilton dark cocoa candy melts, and add sprinkles.  With these, I dipped them in the dark cocoa, then in white and added the sprinkles.  It was much easier to see them!

You can get a copy of my Sugar Cookie recipe (it really is fantastic) HERE, and the Butter Spritz cookie recipe I use HERE.  One comment on the Butter Spritz - I don't like almond flavoring in cookies, so I use  butter extract.  Makes the flavor amazing!

Aunt Carole's Card

Aunt Carole is married to my Dad's youngest brother.  I got a wonderful Thank-You note from her recently for the Christmas gifts I sent.

I feel I'm a little ahead on projects right now, and have been playing with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set - and thought I'd play with some colors, as well as send a return card.  I am notoriously bad at sending letters even though I make so many cards! 

 Bermuda Bay (I REALLY love that color!) Melon Mambo, and Crushed Curry are the main colors, with the die cut piece and 2 of the butterflies in Pool Party.  I cut the butterflies from cardstock, and just used one of the paint splatter stamps to give them some detail.  As always, I need rhinestone bodies for the butterflies! 

Here it comes - "No naked envelopes!"  I blocked out the center, because I wrote the address already - and had some fun with the paint splats and the colors.

LOVE that Gorgeous Grunge stamp set!  Not finished playing with it yet.... ideas, ideas, ideas!

January 2014 First Stamp Club Meeting of the Year!

It was so good to see the members of our Stamp Club again!  I call it "Card Club" at work, and sometimes I think my co-workers think I go play Poker, Blackjack, or Sheephead.  That doesn't happen - just card making!

 This is a nice card for Valentine's coming up VERY soon!  Lots of details - embossing, a rhinestone, and lots of hearts.

  We used the hexagon embossing folder for this card - it was actually really quick!  You'll see in just a moment why.  Love the Gray and Strawberry Slush together!

Did you say WOW! ?  We had 2 samples of this card - Going Gray, and Basic Black.  The black card was really something to see!  Our group made the Gray, and I'm not upset with that at all... it really is so elegant in person!  I made the flowers dimensional, and when I got home, I added glass glitter to the centers.  We used the cut-out hexagon pieces to do the card just above.  It's a great way to use all our materials with very little waste.

What a fantastic way to start 2014's Stamp Club! 

February, 2014 Christmas Cards

Here is the next installment of 2014's Christmas cards.

We finally got our Christmas tree taken down, and I'm always a little sad when that happens - even though I have Christmas trees around the house all year - ceramic mostly. :)

 I saw some cards made with the stamp set Gorgeous Grunge and started playing around with color combinations.  I really love how this works with Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green.  They didn't take too long to put together, but the vertical lines were all lined up with the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Broken lines, paint splats, dots, and paint flicks....  my very favorite Christmas stamp, and a Christmas ornament.  I just had to add the bow to make the grouping of 3.  Have to follow those rules, you know!

Here you can see the inside of the card.  I used the dots stamp, and of course, you know the quote, "No naked envelopes!"

After hearing that the cards get torn because of embellishments, I'm adding an extra piece of cardstock to protect the card and keep it from bulging because of the ribbon and rhinestones.

Pinterest WIN! No Solicitors Sign

This is the original sign of the very MANY "No Soliciting" signs I saw on Pinterest...  I thought it was hilarious, and decided I just had to make one of my own!  We don't have many solicitors in our neighborhood, but around election time, and people trying to sell us windows, it gets annoying.

This is my version.  I found "Outdoor" Mod Podge, and tried it here.  Should last through wind, and rain, and dark of night... I hope!  Ice and snow here as well!

I used larger sized letters than the original, so I stopped by Hobby Lobby one afternoon for just a small piece of wood for the last 2 words.  I decided they didn't need a "Please".

I still think it's hilarious!  Now I just need to call my neighbor and tell her it's really OK to stop by for flour, or sugar, or milk!  :D

Pinterest WIN! Chandelier Wreath for Valentine's Day

I saw this on Pinterest -liked it a lot, and decided I could make one and probably do a pretty good job of it!

This is my creation!  Once I started making it, I found a few differences.  The original Pinterest pinner must have used a selection of precut packaged hearts because they were all the same size.  They also had all the same cut outs, and were just presented in different colors.

 I used a metal wreath base, and red ribbon with white lace over the top.  I also used a large wired polka dotted ribbon for the top to disguise the S hook I bought to hang it.  Works pretty well, actually!   I do feel I could add more ribbon to the wire wreath base, and will do that next year before I hang it again.

Here you can see a better close-up of the hearts I cut..... 3 each to make it look fuller, and different sized down the red/white twine hanging pieces.  I then used the bow maker my dad made, double bows tied to the very ends of the twine for 2 reasons.  1.  to weigh down the twine so it would hang better.  2.  to give it a more finished look, using the same ribbon for the bows as I did for the ties around the top of the wreath.

Stampin' Up Design Series Papers, Hobby Lobby paper, Paper stacks from my stash.  All ribbon from Hobby Lobby, and the twine is from Stampin' Up.

As I said, I believe it's a Pinterest WIN! :) 

Bill Engvall - Here's Your Sign!

I bought surprise tickets for my husband and me to go to see Bill Engvall while he was in town.

If you ever get the chance to see him live, GO! 

My throat hurt from laughing, my chest hurt from laughing, I had to take off my glasses I don't know how many times to wipe my eyes..... AND my left ear hurt - my husband was laughing so hard!

We've loved his shows for a very long time, and I was thrilled to have the chance to see him in person.

Teacher and Support Employees of the Year 2013-2014

Little did I know this past October I would start working with wood!  Again, a big THANKS to my upline Kathy who always gives us new projects and challenges at Stamp Camp!  Since working on the monogrammed letters and wooden crosses, I'm no longer afraid of crafting with it... well, not afraid exactly - it's just a new medium.

Our team leader approached me once the school voted on our TOY and Support Employee of the year and asked if I would make a plaque or something we could present to them.

This is what I came up with.

I used the Team Spirit cartridge to cut out the Huskies, and Plantin Schoolbook to cut the letters.

In hindsight, I should have Mod Podged AFTER I took the pictures, but that will have to be for next time. :)

One thing I will say is that after they had more time to dry, some of those still wet looking areas cleared up nicely, and weren't fuzzy looking at all.

Nephew's Birthday Card

I'm still in love with this Thinlits card base!  REALLY LOVE IT!

January is lots of birthdays in our house - my sister's, my nephew's, some friends.... lots of birthdays!

The yellow card I made for my sister, and this Island Indigo card I made for her son are exactly the same card base, but so very different!

I even used the same DSP stack - Gingham Garden for both cards.  It wasn't a matter of being lazy, or not imaginative, just that the colors worked so well.

Here's the inside view of his card.  I really enjoy having that inside panel for messages.

 

 

Sister's Birthday Card

I spent a lot of time thinking about my sister's birthday card... so much time, that I actually finished it on her birthday, and got it out in the mail to her 2 days later (because of the weekend).

This is one of those cards that I added a detail, then another, and another.  Then more details on top of those.  I'm thrilled with how this card turned out.  I believe it's one of my best.

The card base is a Circle Framelits card cut with an additional flap.  I used Gingham Garden DSP and Washi tape.  I cut a scalloped circle to cover the yellow front flip area, a strip of punched ribbon made into a 3D medallion and used the Artisan punch to cut out the Happy Birthday on top of the medallion.

The flowers come from the Secret Garden stamp set, stamped, die cut, and folded to give dimension.  I added a bit of Washi tape down the right side of the first inner panel.

The Happy Birthday is framed at the top and bottom with more of the Gingham Garden DSP.  The main colors on this card:  Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Island Indigo, and Tempting Turquoise.

Click HERE to see a video I took of this card opening with the 3D medallion.

Commissioned Crosses

The cross project for Christmas gifts went over quite well!  One of my high school classmates asked if I'd make one for her, and then I had a request for a 2nd.

These are the crosses I came up with.  They are almost identical.  I haven't found a reason to work with any other paper stacks yet.  The Modern Medley DSP (black and vanilla)  and Mocha Morning DSP (ret.) make them look so elegant in my opinion.

It's rather a long process, but so much faster when I had only 2 to make!
Paint the canvas backing, tea stain the hymnal page (after the decision on which hymn), paint the edges of both crosses and cover with DSP.  Sand the edges and then ink to finish the look.  Adhere the hymnal page to the canvas, and adhere both crosses.  Finish with a center medallion.


They turn out so beautifully - it's definitely worth the amount of work.

2014 Christmas Cards - January

Christmas cards for 2014?  Yes!

This past Christmas was wonderful!  I heard so many people say they didn't send cards because they ran out of time - haven't gotten around to it yet, won't send cards this year because they don't have time, etc.  I sat down one evening, signed our cards, added the address labels, and had them out in the post the very next morning.

Even though I stopped running the contest for prizes and participation of others mid year last year, I am going to still keep on making the cards - simply for my own peace of mind.


This card is inspired by the card I received from my friend Melissa.  She used the same stamp set, and I then took the idea and moved it around a bit.

Here's the inside view and envelope.

One change I'm making to work the cards even faster this coming November is to have them already signed and sealed.  I'll just have to add the address labels and stamps!  I thought of adding the stamps already but most of the cards are actually hand delivered, so I'll wait on that til the last minute.