Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend! I ended up working on school stuff all weekend (surprise, not!), but I did get a few minutes to make this quick little card for my friend Lori's birthday! And then on the way to meet her at Studio Movie Grill to see Julie and Julia (which was very good btw!), I had an idea for another card using this set, so hopefully I can turn that into reality soon!Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!RecipeStamps: Perfect Chemistry
Cardstock: Kraft
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, and Tempting Turquoise markers
Accessories: Read Red Polka Dot ribbon, Natural Hemp, Tempting Turquoise Designer Series button.
Happy Saturday! Here is my last Artisan card I have to share...looks like I'll have to start stamping again soon now! lol! This was my simplest card and it was inspired by a page in the West Elm catalog. The brown piece was a sideboard with a turquoise vase on it and it had a green picture hanging above it. The background wall was a neutral Sahara Sand card. I used the Eastern Accents rub-ons with the Kiwi Kiss cardstock to recreate the green picture in the catalog. The finished card size is 6 1/2" x 3 1/4". Well, the first week of school is over and I survived! Schwooo! I'll spare you the details on my Thursday night meltdown, it was not good! But after 13 hours of sleep last night, I'm feeling much better! The kids are darling and I have a really good class. Our school is using Power Teaching this year, which I'll mention for you teachers out there. Have you heard of it? I think they're calling it whole brain teaching now. It's kind of common sense, good teaching principles, but in a neat, interactive, catchy package. Anyway, I think it's pretty awesome and the kids are really into it!Okay, off to work on some lesson plans and then STAMP! The house is a disaster, but first things first, right?! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Tuesday! Here's another Artisan card, only one left, don't know what I'm gonna do after that! lol! Guess I'll HAVE to make time to stamp! =)This card is 6 1/2" x 3 1/4" and designed to fit into those longer envelopes. I actually had the idea for the pieced background with stitching and made the base of the card a few months before deciding to enter the Artisan contest. I loved it so much, but I could never figure out what to put on "top" of the card to finish it off. I struggled for a long time and it was the last thing I finished. It's hard to see in the photo, but the little medallion part in Baja Breeze was made after the cardstock was distressed and taken apart, so you're seeing the "inside" of the cardstock for that rough look. I think everything else is pretty explanatory...just lots of cutting of little squares and then sewing with that fabulous Janome Mini!So, I survived the first day of school! Thank you for all your nice comments and well wishes! The kids are soooo cute and sweet (remind me of that later, okay?!), I really feel blessed. The day started with a tragedy when my diet coke fell out of my lunch bag and exploded in the parking lot at 6:30, yikes! That was my only one and we do NOT have a soda machine at school! The horror! You can bet I'm taking a six-pack with me today!The other killer part...the kids go to PE from 8:10 - 9:00, which is when I get my planning period, so it then makes a very LONG day from 9:00 - 3:30 with no break! But I'm trying to stay positive, it is helpful to have that extra hour in the morning to get stuff ready and I'm not a morning person, so that helps me wake up a bit more.Now for the cute stuff...here are my favorite things of the day. We were doing a "get to know eacher other" activity, decorating these leaves and answering questions about ourselves and finding friends with the same answers. With the question "Where were you born?" I got several "I wasn't born." answers. "Yeah, I've never been born." That was fun explaining without getting into the whole where do babies come from thing. And my other favorite: "I'm part Mexican and part Dallas." Love that!Here are a few of my "after" classroom photos, there's lots more on here on my flickr page with descriptions, especially for those teachers out there who want to see. I don't like things too busy or too much color and I like to cover the walls with things that the students make mostly. But here it is for now!Entry:
I made this calendar math time wall buy painting birch plywood boards from Home Depot with magnetic and chalk paint:
Front of the classroom:
Back of the classroom (they had to borrow a bunch of student chairs, for Monday morning, but they replaced them after school):
Word wall with those darling cards, attached with velcro to be interactive:
The best and cheapest window treatments, beach mats from Big Lots for $1.25!
Okay, gotta dash! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Monday! Happy first day of school! This card seemed perfect to share today since it has a 'wise old owl'! Okay, I'm pushing it, but it's the best I can do! lol! This is a quick post as I have to dash, so excited for school to start! I could hardly sleep last night, guess I'm just like one of the kids! Thanks for all your comments recently, even the ones about my classroom! I meant to take my camera to school yesterday when I was finishing up, but forgot, so I'll try to get photos this morning so I can share later. It's not quite perfect...could it ever be?...but it'll do for now and I hope the kids like it!Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Friday evening! Just popping in to show another Artisan Award card...this one is a gift card holder. If you peek behind the polka dot window sheet placed behind the 1 3/4" Circle Punch, you will spot an Anthropologie gift card...with a $0 balance on it, of course! At the Artisan dinner I asked Shelli if she was involved in the judging, because I used that gift card to subliminally influence her to pick me! lol! (She has admitted on her blog So Shelli to loving that store and shopping there frequently.) She laughed, but said, no, she was not involved in the judging. Well, even after working last Saturday and Sunday and late every night this week, looks like I'll still be heading back to my classroom tomorrow. It may have something to do with the fact that I'm partially obsessive-compulsive (is that possible? partially?) and that I spent too much time using the Big Shot for certain projects, but oh, did they ever turn out cute! Here are a couple of "before photos" and there are more on my flickr page here, if you want to check them out. It's a HUGE L-shaped room with lots of windows and light, I'm loving it! I'll take some "after pictures" when I'm done and share them too.
Okay, that's it for tonight! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Thursday evening! I'm still going CRAZY with school stuff, but it's looking up...I should be ready for the kiddos on Monday! Really looking forward to that! In the meantime, here's a close-up of one of my Artisan Award cards. It's a 5 1/4" square, on Kraft, imagine that! lol!That's it, short and sweet! *wink* I hope you're having a great week! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!p.s. Don't forget tonight...9:00 p.m. CST...is the return of Project Runway...on Lifetime! Yahoo! Oh how I've missed Tim Gunn! It'll be the first time the tv has been on all week! lol!
Happy Wednesday! It's time for the weekly Cuttlebug Be Inspired #45 Challenge! This week's challenge is all about shapes...shaped cards, shaped layouts, shaped projects,...how fun! The design team was fortunate enough to receive templates from this week's sponsor, Paper Popsicles! You can check out all the fabulous shape templates here.I chose the mushroom template and have many fun ideas for future cards. These templates are perfect if you're not "naturally artistic"...like me...and quite a bargain at 99 cents! I printed the template out on regular copy paper, then glued it down to thin chipboard (even a cereal box would work, etc.) and cut it out. This way my "mushroom template" will be easy to use over and over again! Lastly, I just used my template to trace the shape onto cardstock and cut out. Easy peasy!A few other details...I used the Herringbone folder for the mushroom stem and the Bloom Dots folder for the mushroom top. I also used the new Basic Gray June Bug paper and chipboard bird, and I made the "hi" with the Junebug paper attached to thin chipboard and then die cut with my Cuttlebug and Red Tag Sale Alphabet die.Be sure and check out what the rest of the Design Team came up with at the Cuttlebug Challenge blog and upload your projects with Mr. Linky so we can check them out too! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Sunday night! I spent most of the weekend at school trying to get my classroom ready, so much still to do, yikes! I just counted back on the calendar and I haven't stamped for 12 days!!! See what teaching does to you?! lol! I just cleaned off my desk, however, as I do have some projects that I must work on! For now, here are my Artisan Award scrapbook pages! The 8 1/2 x 11 page above is of my sister Karen at her wedding last March. I loved that photo of her in color and the background in black and white.
I love this next page below because of the beautiful photos of my friend Beverly's twins Emmalee and Brennan. Aren't they the CUTEST?! When I decided to enter the contest, I called Beverly in a panic asking if I could use some of her photos, so she really saved me! Thanks again, Beverly!
Finally, this last page also features Emmalee and Brennan on their first day of Kindergarten last year. Aren't they darling?! Beverly's photography is excellent too! Because the vintage flash cards are all the rage right now, I tried to make a modern day one using Stampin' Up! supplies. 
Okay, I better get moving, it's getting late and so much still to do...even though dh just came and said it's time to go to bed. Ugh! I feel like I'm ready to start my weekend now, where did it go?! Oh yeah, it went to a 2nd grade classroom! lol!Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Tuesday night! Now that the Stampin' Up! Convention has passed and my winning Artisan Award projects have been displayed, I am so excited to share them here with you! Pictured above is my display board with my projects, and as you can see, the empty Velcro dots where one project had fallen to the floor, egads! Yes, I did crawl under the barrier and try to fix it, but to no avail! lol!Anywhoooo, I sometimes struggle with 3-D projects, but then I had these two ideas and that's what actually pushed me to go ahead and enter at the last minute. I took these photos super quickly (remember that "last minute part"?!) before racing to pack them up carefully and overnight them to Salt Lake City. Talk about schwooo! It was a close one! Here's the little fallen project...a cupcake box. Cupcakes have been so popular, so I started out with a plan to make a box to hold a cupcake with a transparent top. But then the cupcake was turning out so cute, I didn't want to hide it in the box, so I stuck it on top. Then it looked too short and little, so the bamboo skewer with little pennant was added. And that's how it evolved! lol!
My second 3-D project was a crown made from the SU Pennant Die and Big Shot. When Brent Steele called to tell me I had won, he said that he and others at the SU office wanted to be 30 again so they could wear this crown, and I knew just how he felt! I picked "30" because "42" just didn't seem as special! lol!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my projects! I'll be sharing more these next few days...which works out well since I have been buried with back-to-school preparations and haven't stamped or made anything! I forgot how much work is involved in setting up a classroom! Yikes! I'm slowly catching up on my Google Reader and I promise I will be by to give *you* some love this weekend! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Wednesday! It's time for the Cuttlebug Be Inspired #44 Challenge! Your challenge this week is to make a "scene card". I was a little intimidated by this challenge at first...ya know I'm a pretty *simple* stamper, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it!My finished card size is a 5 1/4" square and I used lots of fabby Cuttlebug folders on it! Can you spot them all? The little lady is my standby Swiss Dots folder, the little man is the Herringbone folder, the clouds are the Morrocan folder, and the heart is the Victoria folder. By the way, I loved the way those Maya Road chipboard people ran right through the Cuttlebug, easy peasy, great results!Be sure and head over to the Cuttlebug Challenge blog to see the fabulous projects the rest of the design team came up with. You'll see lots of beautiful work featuring this week's sponsors: Sakura of America and Core'dinations and Scor It.Are you ready for the challenge?! Make your "scene card" and upload it with the Mr. Linky on the Cuttlebug Challange blog for a chance to win this week's prize from Sakura!! Can't wait to see your wowness!! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Monday! I'm so excited to share with you my first Artisan Award monthly challenge from Stampin' Up! I received the super cute new stamp set Greetings, Earthling! (which was on my wish list!) and was asked to create a project with the theme "Just for kids...and the kid in you!" They do ask for a project that is "demonstrator friendly" and that would be easy for demonstrators to do at a workshop...of course, we could do additional projects with a "wow" factor if we desired, but I didn't have time with vacation and preparing for Convention, etc.I wasn't sure what to do at first...I was stumped for a couple of weeks...then it hit me, "Oh yeah, I'm a teacher, I have a TON of kids stuff packed up with my school supplies!" lol! So I decided on a "Mom and Tot"" workshop, with projects moms and their tots could do. This is the first, a card using Greetings, Earthling! and the Woodgrain stamped on the card base. I chose these bright colors and the adorable button because the Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise buttons are the ones featured in the Bulk Buy for demos. For a simpler version, you wouldn't have to add the Dazzling Diamonds glitter with a 2-Way Glue Pen on the orange alien, or the Crystal Effects on the belly of the pink alien. I think you all know by now that watercoloring is not my strong suit, but I used the Aquapainters with the markers, which is the easiest for me!
Next is a cello bag with four cards and envelopes already stamped and ready to go for the "tots" to color in with their crayons! Four may be too many for a workshop, but you get the idea. I wish I had photographed each card, they are all a little different in stamps and placement.
Last, this item could be like a party favor for the "tots" and if they finish coloring their cards, they could open the packet and play with the toys. These are just inexpensive little things I buy in bulk at the party supply store for the prize box for my students at school.
Hope you like these ideas! If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave it in the comments or email me! I'm embarrassed to admit this, because it's 8:15, but I think I'm off to bed! I am pooped after my first day back to work...I only slept four hours last night...still on my summer vacation and Convention schedule, yikes! But it did feel good to be back and I'm super excited to get things ready and see the kids!Hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Sunday! Can I just say "Home Sweet Home"! I had a great time at the Stampin' Up! Convention, but it's nice to be home again...in the land of naps! lol! Well, I have to confess, I did take a few naps during Convention too, I'm just too danged old!The card above is the swap card I made for the Artisan Award dinner, you might recognize it from the Sneak Peek I showed here. Here I am with Shelli and Brent at the dinner (ignore my ungraceful pose and half-closed eyes!), what an amazing time! 
I uploaded 263 more pictures to my Flickr and put them in this Stampin' Up! Convention 2009 Part 2 folder so you can check them out! These include some great display board photos of the new stamp sets Things I Love, Hello Again, Sweet Seasons, and Tree Trimmings. I'll post a few highlights here for you!I LOVE these new Simply Adorned Charm necklaces that will be available in the new Holiday Mini Catalog on September 1! I wasn't sure until I saw how fabulous they are in person...gorgeous chain and beveled glass and you can change the inside art piece, even better than the soldered ones they remind me of!
I loved this display room that looked like a quaint little cottage. Is that quilt amazing or what?!!
And you know how I love Halloween, so check these out: 
Hope you enjoyed those highlights. If you want to see more, don't forget to go to my flickr Stampin' Up! Convention 2009 Part 2! I'm afraid the real world calls for me tomorrow as I have to return to school. I don't know how the summer went by so fast! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
