Friday CPR, 5/29 - Minnesota Miracle Matzo

To view my Friday CPR post for 5/29 - Minnesota Miracle Matzo click here.

Thursday's Throw Aways - Week 12

Unless you do all your banking on line you have these coming to your house - security envelopes that bills come in. They come in a multitude of colors and patterns. When you cut open the envelope there is quite a lot of usable patterned paper inside.


In the card below I chose to use several of the blue patterns. I cut a piece of white cardstock to be used as the background and I ran it through my Xyron making it a big sticker. Then I cut the patterned envelope paper into shapes to use in my mosaic design. It is helpful to have a piece of non-sticky paper handy to plan out your design before you actually stick them down on the good piece.




After I got the pieces in place there was still sticky in the gaps between them so I sprinkled on some white embossing powder and used my heat gun. You can't tell from the picture, but it resembles a shiny grout between the pieces. Pretty cool, huh! (If you don't have a Xyron you can adhere the paper pieces with your favorite adhesive. Then you can run a VersaMark pen over the gaps so you can do the embossing part.)


I added that mosaic piece to a card base of Pacific Point. The image is a stamp from Fun and Fast Notes and I used my aquapainter to color it. It is layered on a Kiwi Kiss circle and a Pacific Point scalloped circle. The flower from the image was incomplete once I punched out the bird so I added a little flower from the Pretties kit with an ice brad. The ribbon is Pacific Point striped grosgrain.


This card has many possibilities for use as there is no sentiment on the outside. I seem to never have enough Thank You's so I think I'll save this one in case I need it.


So, start saving those security envelopes!

Teapot Tuesday 48

Hey, I know that teapot! We get to see all the little scenes from it this week. Make sure to check Cindy's glob to see them all, I only included one here. Cindy says this is Maurice Mouse the baker and we're supposed to bring something ooey, gooey to the tea party this week.

I scrounged around for a mouse stamp and this is the only one I could come up with. It's from the first set of SU stamps that I bought (Nice and Easy Notes) but have never inked. How sad, how very, very sad!

I stamped just the mouse image from this stamp onto Confetti White paper with Basic Gray ink so that I could use my aquapainter and markers to watercolor it. The colors used were Going Gray, Ballet Blue, Real Red. There's some Garden Green and Summer Sun in there too! I added some yellow brads on the overalls and Kraft taffeta ribbon.

This is a little card - only 3 x 3. We've been having a mouse problem at work - there's one in our supply closet who's been getting into mischief lately. The mouse on this card is very mischievious also. He has just stolen that marshmallow topped cupcake from Maurice and is doing his happy dance.

I dressed him in our school colors - red and blue.

Those darn mice just don't want to stay away from school!

It's Never Too Late to Say Thanks - I Hope

Two wonderful ladies substituted for me during my medical leave earlier this year. I have a little gift that I'm sending them and this is the card that is going along with it. This should be a nice surprise.

These are last years' In Colors - Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi and some DSP from last spring also. I just really loved this layout and thought that this paper would be great for it. I used the sentiment from the set Best Yet and the butterfly is one of the new butterfly die cuts. You can also see the top note die was used.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to visit two stamps stores. One in New Castle, Delaware and the other in Tuckerton, NJ. You can bet your inky fingers that I found things that I "really needed"! One of the things I got was the little pearl sticker strips. They really came in handy for the butterfly body on this card.

Hopefully, in the not too distant future, I'll show you projects using the other goodies that I got.

Sage Sympathy

HWNSNBP asked me to make a sympathy card for someone he works with. I really love how this set "Thoughts and Prayers" lends itself to this kind of card. I had seen a card in someone's gallery (sorry, I didn't make note of where) and they used a Martha Stewart fence punch on the bottom portion covering the tree trunk. It really added a lot to the scene. I do not have that punch, but I thought this one comes pretty close.

This is for the passing of a mother so I chose some nice soft colors - Sage Shadow, Almost Amethyst and Pink Pirouette. The background was stamped with VersaMark ink to give it the tone-on-tone quality and I used the leaf stamp from Great Friend. Oh, and the little tiny butterfly comes from Branch Out.

I added a little white taffeta ribbon on the amethyst fence. The top note die is perfect for highlighting a little scene and it easily frames itself when you cut away the perforated edge on the white layer.

Friday CPR 5/22 - Drama on the Playground

To view my Friday CPR post for 5/22 - Drama on the Playground click here.

Thursday's Throw Aways - Week 11

After 10 weeks I still have lots of "stuff" to recycle but I thought that I would bring back an Oldie But Goodie - Candle Top Paperweights.

I'm looking for some input on this series. I'm not begging for comments - well, okay, yes I am. If you don't want to comment here, send me an e-mail and let me know. Should I continue with it or not?

Teapot Tuesday 47

What an interesting teapot this week, don't you think? I'm dying to see the other side(s), but Cindy says she's saving this for another day. BTW, please go look at what she's created on her glob. And when you're done, take a look at the Teapot Tuesday 47 Gallery. The creativity is endless.

Cindy encouraged us to go birdwatching this week which is why you see those little bluebirds hiding out inside this birdhouse. You see the nasty wrens (not pictured) are trying to take over this nesting box, but the bluebirds are not going to let them. They are going to stay in there until the wrens get the message and move on.

(If only our bluebirds were as persistent. They lost their eggs to the wrens and they've moved on. We put up a wren guard, but too late it seems. Now we're trying to lure the wrens to another box so we can entice the blues back to their preferred home.)

This card is one of those shadow-box cards. And I tried a new technique using white pencil on kraft cardstock and coloring over that with markers. It seems to work well. What do you think?

Oh, and don't you just love the spoon brads? I got them on vacation last year and I knew that they'd come in handy someday. I'll be looking for more this summer.

Remember, go check out the other teapot cards in the teapot gallery and Cindy's glob - it's worth taking the time!

I think I'm going to keep this card for myself and put it up on my tack strip at work.

Visiting the Gardens in New Castle

Spring Fling Projects

Friday CPR 5/15 - Teacher Appreciation Day at the Range

To view my Friday CPR post for 5/15 - click here.

Thursday's Throw Aways - Week 10

So......... what's the throw away today? Well there are a couple of things on this card but mainly I wanted to feature the corrugated paper. The white piece in the center comes from a lightbulb package. You could also get this from the inside of a cookie container (Piroulines - one of my favorites), or when you buy a set of dishes or glassware.

It's different than crimping your paper in that it has a backing which make the corrugations into little tunnels. The wire pieces are actually threaded through the corrugations and then wrapped around a toothpick to get the spirals. The wire is from a phone installation somewhere, I don't remember exactly. Could have been at work or at home.

The thin strips of paper on the right are actually quilling strips. Basically, most of the add-ons to this card were scraps or recycled.

Something came up tonight that kept me from my "creativity" time and to be honest this is not a new card, it came out of my card box. I had sent these to some colleagues after we finished a program we were working on together which is why you see the "You Made It Work" in amongst the woven strips.

I kept one for myself because I thought it was really fun. What do you think?

Teapot Tuesday 46

I love this little white teapot with the bamboo handle. In fact I have bought two of them just like it - but not at the same time. We were asked to put themed baskets together for a silent auction and we did a Tea Party themed basket that went over so well the first time, that we did it a second year. I did a little bit of embellishing on those teapots however. The bamboo handles were not in as good shape as Cindy's so I took some glass beads and wire and wrapped the the handle with the beaded wire just above where it goes through the loops on the pot. It came out pretty good and it also enabled me to choose some napkins and cups and saucers with any kind of color in them as I used a multitude of colored beads.

Cindy's card (that can be found on her glob) is awesome. She titled this week's post "It's Okay to do White Now!" So we were asked to use white on white with the option of adding one additional color. There was a penalty for adding more so I had to stay away from my rainbow beads. Instead I added some faux pearls to my card.

The string of pearls on the card are actually punched out of glossy white card stock - but that doesn't show up in the picture. And the back ground circle of white is actually embossed using the big polka dot texture plate - but that doesn't show up in the picture. What I hope you can see is the embossed flowers behind the heart. I saw a card that my upline did with this embosslit and just had to have it.

The color I chose to use is Regal Rose and I used my large scallop die to punch out the base for the card. The heart is stamped using the Ever After stamp set and I chose this because, as it turns out, friends of ours are celebrating their anniversary this week. For the life of me, I could not find a stamp (and I know I have one somewhere) that says Happy Anniversary, so I have until tomorrow morning to locate one or pen it myself on the inside.

My parents would have been celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary this week also. I was talking to my mother last week about that. She was wondering if you still celebrate your anniversary if your spouse has passed. I told her she could do whatever she wanted. (I secretly hope she'll do something for herself on that day, although I'm sure she'll never tell.)

But back to the teapot of the week. There is some discussion as to when you can start wearing white. Is it after Mother's Day or Memorial Day? I seem to remember it being between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but I say to each his/her own.

I remember such a topic of conversation once in the faculty room at another school. There was a teacher there who said that not only couldn't you wear white at any other time than between May and September, but when you did, your belt, your shoes and your bag had to match. Of course, you then had to be one of those people who change their bags to match their outfits and, well, that I'm not. In fact, I really would be up a creek because this is my new summer bag

Wanna see some more great Teapot Tuesday 46 cards? Click Here.

Thursday's Throw Aways - Week 9

Did you miss me yesterday? Sorry about that. This has been a busy week, but I won't waste your time making excuses.

The ingredients for my card this week include part of an empty Lindt Truffle bag and the netting from Laughing Cow Babybel Cheese.

I just love that shiny yellow paper on the bag and I knew that I would like to use it somehow. The piece I used comes from the side gusset of the bag. I cut that part off the bag and then used my MS eyelet border punch on it. You can't see the shine in the picture, but it is very pretty on the card and such a great contrast to the texture of the netting.

For the bow all I did was remove the copper clips from the ends of the bag and fold it lengthwise several times until I got the width that I wanted. Then I folded each of the ends in towards the middle and used a scrap of ribbon to tie it (which you can't see under the button).

This will either be a birthday or thank you card I think! I'd love to know what you think and also if you have any "green" crafting ideas to share.

Teapot Tuesday 45

Inspiration comes from all over. This week Cindy's inspirational teapot came from Dawn (flowergal36) . And guess what it's made of - paper!!! When I saw this last week I immediately thought of dice given the squarish shape and Cindy did too as you can see when you check out her creation on her glob.

So why, you will say, did I go with a polka dot flower? I have no real idea. This is what came to me, and believe me, I sat, and stood, and sat, and stood, and sat, and sat, and sat and sketched, and went through paper and stamps before I decided on this. And..... I'm still not satisfied with it. I like the pearls but I don't like all that pink underneath it. What do you think?

I stamped the lily from 5th Avenue Floral 3 times on my polka dotted designer paper. Then I cut out three layers as you can see here.

I also stamped the stamens on So Saffron cs and cut those out using my post-it note trick. Using a So Saffron marker, I dotted the tips of the stamens, but I'm not sure you can see that here. (Note to self - get some of that Flower Soft stuff, it would have looked a lot better!)

Oh, and to top it off, when I picked up the Happy Mother's Day Stamp, apparently I hadn't cleaned it after I used it so when I inked it up with Certainly Celery boy was I surprised when I stamped the card base and got this horrible pink-green color. Thank goodness I hadn't attached any of the other pieces yet. So, sometime before Sunday, I'm going to have to figure out something to hide that on the back of this card because I was too lazy to cut another piece. Raise your hands - how many of you have ever done that before? Higher, I can't see you!

Teacher Appreciation Day

This is what we put together for Teacher/Staff Appreciation Day. They are mini-treasure chests because "We Treasure our Staff". They each have a milk chocolate nugget in them.

INKredible Color Challenges 4/27 and 5/4

Last week's challenge colors were Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, and Tangerine Tango. I hadn't inked my Thoughts and Prayers set yet and needed a sympathy card for my friend who unexpectedly lost her brother after a brief illness. Masculine cards are difficult for me. Sympathy cards are difficult for me. Sympathy cards for friends, close friends, are very difficult for me. The colors of the challenge seemed masculine enough and they spoke to me of a tree.

Not to digress but have you ever seen the children's program David the Gnome? The last episode is so touching when David and his wife Lisa both reach the end of their lives - gnomes don't live much past 400 - and after saying good by to all their friends and animals, they travel to this special place (the Mountain of Beyond) and they stand next to each other and they are transformed into trees. I watched this with my kids when they were younger and they didn't get it, but I cried, and I still cry when I think of how beautiful it was. They knew their time had come and they were prepared for it, and they prepared their friends for it. Then they travelled on with such resolve and such love for each other. If only that were the way it could be. I don't know if it would make it easier or not, but on the other hand those gnomes had 400 years. What would we do with 400 years? Sounds cliche but it's times like these, when death comes so suddenly that we are reminded to live our lives to the fullest because of the unpredictability of it. Anyway, I highlighted the episode above - it's kind of grainy, but if you have 20 mins. to spare, check it out.

I love the tree in this set. Actually the next card has a tree also and I love that tree too. The colors for this week's challenge are Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze. The stamp set is Branch Out (the sentiment is from Trendy Trees - ach what is it with these trees!!!!) The big Choc. Chip brad is pretty cool, don't you think? Unfortunately, I hadn't used my Very Vanilla ink pad in forever and it was very hard to ink the stamp. When I opened the pad, on the lid was a clear oily liquid which had separated from the color of the ink. I brushed it back onto the pad, but the image did not come out that great. Don't know if I ever got a refill for that one, but you bet it will be on my next order!!!

So, how do you like my tree cards? Tell me what you think, and if you get a chance to view the video above, let me know how it made you feel. I'd love to hear what you have to share.