Summer Break!!

I am so glad it is summer break! I have had a long and somewhat challenging year! Last week was officially my first week off... and I did nothing!! So today seemed like a great day to get back into stamping and creating. Thanks to Papertrey's Make it Monday #69 challenge, I was able to easily put this one together quickly. However, trying to figure out my new Photoshop CS6 is more work than I want to put in! What kind of photo editing software are you using?

I used one of my favorite go to sets from Papertrey Ink: Life. I happened to have some fun crinkly brown ribbon from leftover chocolate packaging on my table... I just had to use it! Here's a close up view of my card:

Here is the inspiration sketch I used:

Splitcoaststampers and Papertrey Ink have been my go to places for inspiration back into the crafting world. Now that I have been away for a while from the crafting scene, I wonder what are some great places for inspiration? What blogs or challenges do you like to visit??

2

Thankful for a Break!

It has been such a long time since I have been on here. During the school year, I do not find the time to create as I would like. I thought team teaching would lessen my work responsibilities, but instead it has increased. I am thankful for this needed break and an opportunity to join in on the November Papertrey's Blog Hop. Here is the inspirational photo:

I am planning on having some friends over for a little holiday get together. I want to have a holiday owl theme. The colors from this photo inspired my owl treat bag. My room mom, from work, made my kindergarten class and I some adorable Halloween treat bags. She told me she found the idea on Pinterest. I am hooked! Below is my Holiday owl treat bag, based upon her Halloween bags.

I used a mini lunch bag as the base of my owl's body. First I folded the top and cut a triangle out. I used my scallop and circle punches to make the eyes. I cut out some green and red dp and used my scallop border punch to make the ruffles. I used Papertrey's sentiment from the Holiday Tree set. I free hand cut the feet and beak. Easy peasy, lemony squeezy! Here's a close up:

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Hugs!

7

Papertrey's Make It Monday #31 & Pink Elephant #115

My first weeks of kindergarten have been exhausting. With this extra day off today, I am feeling human again! I browsed the web and participated in a few challenges. This one is for Papertrey's Make it Monday #31, Creating Backgrounds with Non-Background Stamps. I used my new Papertrey set, Baby Button Bits stamp set. I received this set over the summer when I was a lucky winner of one of Papertrey's Make it Monday challenges. I used the sentiment as my background stamp. I stamped it in SU 's Old Olive and Baha Blue. I also sponged the edges of my panels to soften them.

The Pink Elephant is also having a sketch challenge, TPE#115 which I used for this card. I made a new size (for me) that I learned from Colleen Schaan. It's 3.25" X 5.5". I really like it, and will be using it more often. Here's a close up of the rolled flower. I punched a circle from one of my Stampin Up circle punches. Then I just cut a swirly inside. There are tutorials out on the web to do this. I know that My Favorite Things also makes dies for a rolled flower.

I hope you are enjoying your Labor Day weekend!!

14

Monday's Polka Dotted Mug

I created this coffee card thinking mainly of Papertrey's Make it Monday #26: Decreasing Apertures . There is a video tutorial at Nichole's blog showing how to use different dies to make a window. I also was inspired by Splitcoaststamper's Inspiration Challenge #296. At the site there are pictures of pink napkins with white polka dots. With Papertrey's Warm Happiness polka dotted mug, Warm Happiness Too sentiment, and Warm Happiness Dies to match, I made something to go with the browns in my cards. This also fits DTGD11leigh_obrien challenge at Splitcoaststampers to use several dies.

Here is a look through the front window into the inside of the card.

I think I will be working on some more DTGD11 challenges today over at Splitcoaststampers. Then later tonight, I will be going with my hubby to an Ethiopian restaurant to meet up with his brother and hopefully my sister and her little family!! Have a wonderful day!

3

Cupcake Exchange Party

Last Wednesday evening, I had a cupcake exchange party. It was fun to plan and participate in.These are the cupcake invitations that I sent out to some of my friends. I made these in May before school was out, because I knew I wanted to have a cupcake exchange party during the summer. I finalized them two weeks ago so that they would be sent out a week ahead. I had sent a Facebook invite weeks earlier, and then these to those who could attend. These were basically made similiar to the flower pocket card.

I also made cupcake sugar cookies. Here they are with the sugar sand on top:

Here they are packaged in their individual bags:

In the foyer, on the wall, I used small clothespins and twine to display my pictures. I took a couple pictures down and replaced with cookies. This was my third attempt at making decorated sugar cookies, and I was pleased with myself at how they turned out!



I also made a candy bar on my bookcase in the foyer area. I got pink yogurt covered pretzels and chocolate covered expresso beans at Fresh Market. I go the pink and green truffles from Lindt. I went to Target and got some minty green M&M's. I put these in different glass containers. The girls enjoyed this, especially my friend Amber, who loves Lily Pulitzer.

Underneath the candy bar, were my favor bags and cupcake sugar cookies. I used a die cut at my school for the bag. Then I used my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug to cut out the shapes for the cupcake template. I used Papertrey's Tiny Treats: Birthday and a cupcake dollar stamp from Michaels to make my little circular tags. My friends were impressed with the felt on top of the cupcakes that were on the favor bags.

I also made prize bags for the best presentation and the best tasting cupcakes. Inside the identical bags were identical cupcake necklaces from Bashful Bliss, a cupcake frame, and a cupcake lip gloss. The owl box full of little 3X3 cards were put into a bag with some other cupcake goodies for a scrapbooker/stamper.

After my friends arrived and settled down, we sat down and tasted the cupcakes. I cut the a few cupcakes into quarters for each person to taste. The other cupcakes were left untouched, so that we could each take the different cupcakes home.
 

Now for the delectable cupcakes. I used my new phone and its vintage warm setting to take photos. Love that setting!! I made mochaccino cupcakes that were yummy. I even created my own icing to go with it!

Even though the votes varied for taste, my friend Colleen and I tied for the best tasting cupcakes with 2 votes each. Since I was the hostess, she won the prize. Here are her Oreo Cheesecakes.

Amber won best presentation with her Pink Lemonade cupcakes. Since she had the most votes, she also won the scrapbooker/stamper cupcake goodies.

The other cupcakes we had were Chai Latte, Vanilla (orange colored frosting), Vanilla Vanilla, Chocolate Chip Cannoli, Key Lime, and Mintalicious Brownies. Below is my first photo collage created with Photoshop. Just a few more random pictures from the party.

We had yummy cupcake for sharing and eating for days! If you have an inkling for a cupcake exchange party, I highly recommend hosting one!

1

Papertrey's July 2011 Blog Hop

I happened to check out Nichole's blog and saw a beautiful inspiration photo. There is a July 2011 blog hop going on, so I had to give it a try.

It took me less than 5 minutes to put this one together. I wish I had picked  a different blue background, as mine is too blue rather than more blue-green. I think I will have to make more though, as it was a quick one! Time to get some rest!



4

Cookies!!

I love cookies. Chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, gingerbread men, peppermint chocolate, key lime thumbprints, etc... During each Christmas season, I have made homemade goodies for families, friends, and coworkers. Just last year, I started experimenting with sugar cookies with icing. I didn't like the idea of using raw eggs for my royal icing and discovered a great meringue icing recipe from Bake at 350F. I even made my own favors for my wedding last October. I cannot find my butterfly sugar cookie pictures... but the actual cookies were yummy! I used Williams and Sonoma's sugar cookie recipe. Instead of a vanilla bean, I use a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Here's a picture taken from my wedding photographer of my favors. Underneath the bike tag are two mini butterfly cookies peeking through, a triple chocolate cakeball, a small box with green jelly bellys, and another small box with chocolate covered expresso beans. (My wedding colors were green, brown, and white/ivory.)

This past Mother's Day, in my classroom, I decided to make more cookies for my Mother's Tea for those mommies who come in on a weekly basis to help out. I typically have a berry tea theme. This time my sugar cookies were not fun to make! I had issues with the icing. My butterfly experience was easier, as they were tiny bite size cookies. These were much bigger.

I think that the difficult part for me was getting the right consistency, as I am used to making gingerbread houses and the icing should be more fluid.

My mommy helpers were feeling appreciated at their tea. They had sweet treats and berry themed gifts: strawberry hand lotion, thanks berry much frame from my class, berry note cards, strawberry tea, a heart shaped strawberry box filled with strawbery chocolate, and strawberry cookies. My kindergarteners recited and acted out poems. They also served the moms juice, tea, and sweets. Here are some photos from previous years:

I used Papertrey's berry images and sentiments. I  believe from two different sets: Green Thumb and Punny Valentine.

Inside each strawberry are a couple chocolate kisses. The strawberry template was found on Splitcoaststampers. I found this site using a Bigshot Flower die to make the strawberry.

Today, I decided to attempt to make sugar cookies again for my upcoming cupcake exchange party. Instead of using a cheaper brand of meringue powder, I used the one from Williams Sonoma as the lady from Bake at 350 suggested. I noticed a significant difference. I made one bowl of white meringue royal icing. I used my Williams Sonoma containers to put my icing on. First the white and then flooded it. Then I made some pink for the cherry on top and dots in my white icing. Then I made green for the cupcake holder.

These were fun to make. I didn't make such a big mess. I only have 3 gel icing colors from Wilton's: leaf green, black, and Christmas Red. A little red makes a vibrant pink! I bought my cupcake cookie cutter from Crate and Barrel. I changed the Williams and Sonoma sugar cookie recipe by using whole wheat flour and vanilla extract. I made my meringue icing on the runny side. I added an orange extract, rather than my typical vanilla, and it tasted yummy!! Yeah, I think that I am becoming more successful at making sugar cookies with royal icing!!

Tomorrow, after the icing has dried, I plan to add pink sanding sugar to the top cherry. Then I will package them in clear bags with pretty ribbon. My cupcake exchange party is coming up soon!! I have been working on various projects for this party. My color theme is pink, green, white, and a hint of brown. I plan to take lots of cupcake photos!! Have a wonderful weekend!
 

1

Back to School Treats

I still have a few weeks left of summer before the new school year starts. I will go back the second week of August. So it's time for me to prepare for the new school year. To start, I made these treat bags for my kindergarten teammates. I used my new die, Mat Stack #5, from Papertrey and made quick tags for my mini white lunch bags. Inside are apple themed items: apple scented hand gel, apple sticky notes, and chocolates. The chocolates were wrapped with mailing labels stamped with Papertrey's Limitless Labels. On the back of the tags, I wrote some happy notes for the first day of school.

On the first day of school, I read to my class, The Kissing Hand, which is about Chester the raccoon and his anxiety about the first day of school. Here are some favors I made inspired by this link. Instead of making a raccoon puppet or box, I made a raccoon topper out of SU's top note die. I think my new kindergarteners will smile when I give these treats to them. I made these by folding Stamping Up's top note die in half. To make the white mask, I used on white top note and made a template by cutting a V into it. I used a sharpie to color in the blacks on the white. I used a 3/4" circle punch and the owl punch to make the eyes and noses. I used SU's scallop punch to make the paws. I used Spellbinder's Scallop Hearts to cut out my first day notes and attached it to small glassine bags filled with Hershey's hugs and kisses.

Have a wonderful weekend!! I'm off to the post office to mail some packages and then to a Turkish restaurant with my husband to eat some yummies!

1

Tea Time

Papertrey had their July countdown and I almost forgot about the Make it Monday challenge. This week's challenge involves creating a pocket with border dies. I do not have any border dies, but I do have a couple border punches. I used my scallop one to make a tea pocket for my tea bag. I also incorporated two of Splitcoaststamper's challenges: F4A73 Twine and WT331 Crazy Collage. I have not made a stamped collage before and I used several to create the collage on my tea pocket. I stamped with Elzybell's tea/coffee background with vintage cream. It is not easily seen in my picture. I used a leafy branch from Papertrey's Life to stamp in old olive. I also used creamy caramel to stamp mini butterflies from Butterfly Kisses and a sentiment from Tea for Two. I also stamped other images from Tea for Two to decorate my plain chamomile tea bag.

1

Using SU's Scallop Envelope Die

Last year, I purchased SU's Scallop Envelope Die to make cute little Ghirardelli chocolate holders for Halloween. I only used it that one time. That is not worth the $20 I spent on it. So I decided it's time to make use of it. For my upcoming cupcake exchange party, I need some favor ideas. I made this Ghirardelli chocolate holder, similiar to the ones I made last year. Chic 'N Scratch has a great video tutorial to make it. These are pretty easy to put together!

Here's a close up side view...



Another idea from Splitcoaststampers is the Scallop Envelope Box. This was pretty easy to put together as well. I think a normal size cupcake would fit in it! Here's one I made with the owl and cupcakes. The owl came from a stamp set that I got at Joann's called Whimsical Birds. The cupcake came from Michael's in the dollar bin section.

 


Since my mom's birthday was today, I used the Scallop Envelope die to make her a gift card holder. Normally, the die is too small to fit a gift card in it. Here are two tutorials to show you how to make it larger.
Picture tutorial: Gift card holder
Video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DogmOPte8-k

I used VLVJul2011Week2 sketch for my mom's birthday card in the background. The butterfly image came from Verve Visual's Fluttering By. The sentiment "sending you birthday wishes" came from Michael's dollar bin section. The "for you" sentiment came from Papertrey's Fillable Frames #5.

Here is a closer view of the gift card holder. I made the flower by following the video tutorial by Tara. I did not have the five petal flower punch that she had. I tried my six petal punch one and the SU scallop die. Both worked following her tutorial.

Here's a closer look at my mom's bday card.

While browsing online, here are a couple other creative ways others have used the scallop envelope die:

• Sunshine, Smiles, & Stamps Scallop Envelope Die Note Card Holder
• Stampin' Pretty's Decorated Scallop Envelopes
• Sharon's Santa Gift Card Holder
• Easter Basket Youtube Tutorial (uses 6 scallop envelopes)
• Sandi's Little Bunny Box
• Scallop Gift Card Holder (different alteration)

0

Wow! I Won!

I was stunned when I found out that I was the lucky winner of Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday #21! Nichole's blog is one that I tend to frequently visit during the beginning of a month. This is when she and her team of designers show sneak peeks and samples of what will be available soon. I did not think to check the winner, until today, when I came here to my blog and saw my last entry. While there on Nichole's blog, I saw my owl card, and I thought to myself, "That's weird. That linky thing recognizes me." Then I saw my name and had to do a double take. I called out to Robert (my husband) and we did a happy dance. First time I won something online!! I have a list of wants from Papertrey Ink's store, but the Baby Button Bits was next on my list. The funny thing is I put an order in earlier this week, not knowing about the prize. Now I will have two Papertrey packages coming in the mail! I hope your week is going as fantastically as mine!

1

Papertrey's Polaroid 2-Step Masking

Earlier this week, I found out that Nichole Heady posted a challenge for Papertrey's Polaroid 2-Step Masking. Apparently, she has had these Monday challenges going on and this particular one is #21. A video tutorial  using this technique can be found here at her Inspired Papertrey blog. If you had not had a chance to visit her blog, you should check it out! I love her style and have learned so much from her tutorials.

I ended up making two cards this past week using this technique inspired by the tutorial. The first one uses Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses. This is one of my first stamp sets bought from Papertrey. I happen to love butterflies, so it was enticing!

The second one uses Papertrey's Wise Owl, Life, and Out on a Limb. I also have no self control when it comes to owls.
.

I hope everyone has a Happy July 4th weekend!!

2

Almost a Year Later!

I had a wonderful year with my kindergarten class, and now I am off for summer break. I plan to be more crafty during my time off! It is also time for me to learn how to blog. I enjoy browsing what is available online, and found some wonderful inspirations. Off the Wall Craftiness posts beautiful picture collages to inspire others to create. Here's the picture for this week's challenge:

Here's the web link as well:

http://offthewallcraftiness.blogspot.com/2011/06/otwc-challenge-56.html

Summer is a fun season, and the OTWC captured the essence of it in her photo collage. I wonder if she took all these pictures? I am not a big fan of summer, as it is too hot here in Florida. I tend to spend more time indoors! This morning I found a Papertrey bike image sitting on my table, and was able to incorporate it into my card today. I used the colors and the bike from OTWC#56 as my inspiration. I tend to use a mix of supplies from various companies. I used the bike image from Papertrey's Button Bits. Yeah for me! My first crafty blog post!



2