Greetings, Earthling stampers! Yes, I'm alive...and tired...but alive! Thanks for some of your emails checking on me! Just trying to keep my head above water with school, but all is good!I did actually take a night to stamp this week, a quick 30 minutes, but I had to when I saw the dear Shannon Teubner was the Featured Stamper 136 over at Splitcoast this week! She's the sweetest gal ever and oh SO talented! She can make those Copic Markers sing! I cased this card of hers. As you can see my watercoloring can't compare! lol!Hope you're all well out there in blogland! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!RecipeStamps: Greetings, Earthling!
Cardstock: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Ruby Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pink Flamingo DSP.
Ink: Staz-On Black, Ruby Red marker, Tempting Turquoise marker.
Accessories: Aquapainter, Pure Color Pencils (retired), Cuttlebug, Diamond Plate Embossing Folder, large silver brad (can't remember!).
Happy Monday! Or should I say Happy Labor Day! Finally, a chance to stamp! Yahoo! Just simple little cards, takes the creativity time to come back when it's been shoved to the back of the closet, ya know?! This card below was my first attempt last night, and it's the best I could do! lol! Since my step-dad's birthday was 3 weeks ago and his Lowe's gift card has been in my purse all this time, it seems appropriate:
Yesterday, DH and I went to our favorite Lakewood used bookstore, Paperbacks Plus, and I got all these for my classroom, for less than $30: 
I know the kids will be excited, they are very eager and excited about reading, which makes their dear teacher happy (our power teaching rule #5)! I can't begin to tell you how cute my kids are this year and such a good class. I went up to school for about 3 hours earlier today, but still brought this home to finish up tonight...laminating to be cut and Reading A to Z books to fold and assemble for Guided Reading this week:
Oh, I did go and see The Time Traveler's Wife with some friends this afternoon...so good, but so sad! Take your 3 hankies, I haven't heard that much sniffling in a movie theater in a long time! I read the book about two years ago and loved it, but didn't remember much about it. About half way through the movie I remembered and was like, "Oh no!" lol!Hope you have enjoyed your holiday weekend! Thank you so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
Happy Wednesday! It's time for the weekly Cuttlebug Be Inspired #47 Challenge! This week's challenge: make an invitation! So I made a 1st birthday party for my darling, imaginary daughter named Mia! *wink* It started out as a traditional birthday party hat, but then I saw that Sassafrass paper and had to use that bunny with the name Mia (I think because I was supposed to have a 2nd grader in my class named Mia, but she withdrew and didn't come to our school after all, so I'll never know her!). I used a large silver brad for the hinge at the top, just covered it up with a corduroy button. For the inside of the invitation, I just made a textbox the approximate size of my hat in Word, then printed it out on regular copy paper. Then I used Mono temporary adhesive on the back of the hat, stuck it right over the printed words (hold it up to the light to see through and get perfect placement), and lastly, ran it through my printer again. Voila! The temporary adhesive just rubs right off the back when you're done. Lots of goodies on here: Cuttlebug, Diamond & Herringbone embossing folders, Stampin' Up! Kraft cardstock (gotta love that perfect basic!), Kiwi Kiss button, Hemp twine, & retired Tiny Talk stamp; Sassafrass Lass paper, chipboard & number 1, Making Memories green lace ribbon, and Maya Road pom poms. Be sure and check out what the other designers have created for you on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, you won't be disappointed! I hope you'll join in this week's invitation challenge! We're celebrating our 1 year anniversary and we have lots of sponsors for a grand prize at the end of September! Go check it out!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!
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!
